


War of the Inquisition

by Noir995



Series: Inquisition Series [2]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-02-09 08:18:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 33,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12883800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noir995/pseuds/Noir995
Summary: The Academy is no more and Peylix has been released from his prison after millennia. With the Darkforce Cabal and their forces pushing back against the Alliance and their Defenders, a team of rookie Defenders find themselves thrust into the spotlight.Can Defender team Inquisition band together and help the Alliance end the threat of Peylix and his Cabal once and for all? Or will the galaxy be once again victim to the Darkness and the monsters that lurk within. (Unknown Hiatus)





	1. Defender Team Inquistion

**Author's Note:**

> All of this is purely what I've thought up and claim no copyright to anything that has been used or named in it.

3 Years Later…

Location: Xyrn Prison  
Year: 2258

The prison was cold, damp and miserable in Evan’s opinion, which was exactly how he pictured a Darkforce prison to look like but now he really wished he hadn’t insisted with Overwatch that he went with Titan on this rescue mission behind his brother’s back. Evan and Titan had been trapped in the prison for almost three days now, he was sure that his brother had figured out he wasn’t back on base and that terrified him more than the Droid Sentries and prison guards combined. Evan was pulled from his musing when the door to his cell was suddenly opened as the guards threw somebody into the cell before slamming the door shut.  
“What did they want this time?” asked Evan as he aided the person to their feet and helped remove the bag from over their head. Underneath the bag was a large mop of black, shaggy hair black beard and the unmistakable mismatched eyes of one Blake Jones.  
“Just the usual, to be honest I’m starting to wonder if this guy we’re in here for is really worth the hassle” replied Blake as he dusted his trousers off and walked over to the barred window. The team had been investigating leads on Peylix and his Darkforce Cabal and found out a prisoner being held within Xyrn Prison could prove useful in identifying the newer members. Titan was given the mission of infiltrating the prison, locating the target and safely extracting the prisoner from the prison. While believing it to a straightforward break-in; Titan had no bother letting the young Evan come along so long as he managed to avoid telling Evan’s guardian and potential keep Titan breathing normally. That of course went out the window when both he and Evan were captured couple days ago and were still no closer to finding the prisoner.

Blake was musing on where the prisoner could be held when the cell door suddenly swung open and in walked two guards with a third standing at the door. “Warden wants to see you both” said one of the guards as Evan and Blake were escorted out of their cell. As they walked in front of the three guards down the passageway, Blake slyly signalled to Evan that he was going to incapacitate the guards behind them. He silently counted to three before the two turned, ready to knock them out; only to find two guards unconscious with the third looming over them with a black staff that was glowing blue at the ends.  
Blake was stunned in silence as the ‘guard’ slowly turned and walked over to him and Evan, causing Blake to pull Evan behind him to protect him from whoever was under the mask. The masked man stopped in front of Blake and sounded as if he was saying something, however it was badly muffled by the mask, so Blake and Evan couldn’t understand the guard. Seeing the confusion on their faces, the man slumped his shoulders before taking a few paces backwards, raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. Suddenly a magic circle appeared underneath the masked man’s feet as it slowly rose up him, changing his appearance as the colour drained from both Blake’s and Evan’s faces. The masked man’s appearance now consisted of black combat trousers with navy-blue armoured padding on the sides with a pistol holster on the left-hand side and a navy-blue open jacket over black armour plating with blue lining, similar coloured shoulder pad on the right shoulder and black gauntlets on both arms with fingerless gloves. Two swords, one black and another white, strapped diagonally over their back and a red sash swaying from their waist and the collapsed staff strapped to the back of his waist. Lowering their black hood with blue lining, the masked man revealed to have messy dark blue hair tied back in a small ponytail. The man lifted a hand up to push a button on the side of the mask, which vanished the lower half, revealing the black markings coming out from under the goggle that then went around to the back of his neck. The man then lifted the goggles to reveal the stern, blue and grey eyes of one seriously pissed looking Azrael Sigma.  
“Evan Baal Rolfson, you understand how much trouble you’re in right now?” said Azrael as he glared at young Evan who was trying to completely hide himself behind Blake, “Come on Az, if you’re gonna be angry with anyone. Be angry at me and not the kid” said Blake, earning a particularly stern glare from Azrael which sent shivers down Blake’s spine.  
“Oh, trust me I am angry with you Blake, you know that Evan isn’t ready to go out on dangerous mission like this. What would have happened if he was hurt and I didn’t know where he was?” asked Azrael but before Blake could answer, another pair of guards turned the corner and began firing at the Defenders. Blake rolled up his sleeve to reveal his prosthetic arm and pushed a button on his wrist as white and orange armour appeared around him. His shoulders were lined with fur and an orange cloth swayed on their right thigh and a helmet that completely covered their face, horns on either side with on broken off. Blake summoned a Polar Shield to block the strikes that would have hit Evan while Azrael took out his plasma pistol and, without turning to face the guards, shot two paralysing blasts into their chest, knocking them out cold.  
“Let’s talk about this after the mission is complete” sighed Azrael as he lowered his goggle and the mask once again appeared over the lower half of his face.

While heading down an empty corridor, Blake stopped at one of the terminal points, “Draak can you take point while I try to find our prisoner?” asked Titan as he started hacking into the terminal point. Taking this moment to try and talk, Evan tapped Azrael on the arm gaining Azrael attention, “Sorry for not coming to you first about this mission” apologised Evan as he rubbed his arm awkwardly, a tick he no doubt got from Azrael over the years. After quickly scanning for any guards and satisfied there weren’t any, Azrael removed his mask and squatted down to be level with Evan.  
“Nah, it ain’t you’re fault Evan. I should be the one apologising to you about forcing you to feel like you had to do it in the first place” sighed Azrael as he ruffled Evan’s black hair, “I’m your guardian Evan, I’m always going to worry about you” Evan knew all about the promise Azrael made to Benn, but that didn’t change how much Azrael loved Evan and vice versa. After a brief silence, Azrael nudged Evan slightly to get his attention, “I hope you realise that by pulling this stunt, you almost made me waste a regeneration on sheer panic alone” revealed Azrael, earning a small giggle from Evan.  
“I’ve found our guy if you want to still finish the mission” said Blake to the two of them who got to their feet and followed Blake farther into the prison.

After a few skirmishes with some minor guards, the three found the cell contained their prisoner. While Blake was trying to hack into the door’s lock, Azrael took the moment to dangle the guard keys that he had been carrying the entire time right in front of Blake’s face.  
“Couldn’t you have said something sooner?” asked Blake as he tried all the keys on the chain, Azrael simply shrugged and replied, “Was too busy having fun watching you overthink what I was going to do to you after this mission was over” making Blake shiver once again and making Azrael and Evan snort at the infamous reputation Azrael had when it came to Evan’s safety. Eventually Blake found the correct key and the three entered the cell. 

Inside the cell, the three of them found the sole inhabitant to be a triceratops looking creature that stood on its hind legs and walked with an air of smug know-how, the creature turned to face the three-people standing in its doorway and its face seemed to brighten somewhat.  
“Ah, I was wondering how long it would take you to stage a rescue after your imprisonment” spoke the creature with a deep voice, clearing making the creature male, “If there are introductions be had, you may call be DeVoe. I can only assume by your attire that you are Titan and Draak of the Defender Team called Inquisition no?” asked the now named DeVoe which had Blake nodding dumbly while Azrael just stood there not saying a word. The silence in the cell was pierced by the sudden alarm blaring throughout the prison, indicating that the mission had moved from stealth to the good old-fashioned smash and grab. 

“So much for sneaking out of here” said Blake as he continued firing on the guards while keeping the barrier up for cover, “Hope you’ve got a plan B for getting us out of here” said DeVoe from his spot behind cover as he laid out suppressive fire alongside Blake while Azrael held down the other end of the corridor of doom.  
“Valkyrie, I believe they’re singing your song now” said Azrael into his earpiece as the guards brought in Droid reinforcements. The surrounding windows suddenly shattered as in flew multiple black weapons that embedded themselves into anything in their path, including the wall three inches away from Blake’s face who swallowed a thick load of spit. A woman could be seen walking into the corridor through one of the broken windows, clad in mixture of black leathered armour with white lining, two black leather plated gauntlets, a bright blue cape strapped to her left shoulder that swished behind her with each step and a white sword hilt on her right shoulder. Her brown hair was tied into a high ponytail and white line markings decorated her face.  
“Honestly can’t go anywhere without someone setting an alarm off” sighed Valkyrie as she placed her hands on her hips while judging the other Defenders in the room.  
“That’s rich coming from the one who almost got arrested on several different occasions due to starting pub fights whenever she’s out drinking” shot back Azrael, Valkyrie was going to respond to the jab when instead, she outstretched her arm to the side, summoning a black dagger out of nowhere, and threw it past Azrael and embedded itself into the hand of the guard reaching for his comms.  
“Take it this is the guy we’re here for then” asked Valkyrie as the pointed a thumb towards the shocked DeVoe, gaining a nod from both Blake and Azrael, “Come on then” sighed Valkyrie as she led the way to the ship.

They all managed to make it to the ship with little resistance from the prison guards and their sentry droids. Any resistance was met with Valkyrie’s blades in their gut, or a plasma burst from Azrael’s pistol. Pretty soon, the five of them were safely aboard the ship and making their way back to base. With Valkyrie off to find another bottle to drink and Blake debriefing DeVoe on what they needed to know, Evan found himself sat in the cockpit with Azrael flying the ship.  
“There was something that I was going to say to you the other day” said Azrael, breaking Evan out of his staring out into space and giving his attention back to his guardian, “I mean you did go against my wishes and take a mission behind my back, so I don’t know if you deserve it right now” teased Azrael, earning a frustrated groan from Evan before Azrael continue with his offer.  
“Alright, serious mode now. I’ve got a deal for you Evan” said Azrael with all signs of teasing gone from his face and voice, “If you promise to stop going behind my back to go on missions such as these; then I’ll start your Defender training when we get back to base. Deal?” offered Azrael, although he knew the answer before he had even asked the question as Evan broke into the biggest, face-splitting grin that Azrael had ever seen.


	2. Meet the Inquisition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot can happen in three years; Azrael is now a guardian and yet there's many other changes that have happened over the last few years. Time for everyone to meet the Defender team known as Inquisiton

Location: Romulan Cluster 

“Coming up on the Romulan Cluster guys, better strap yourselves in” informed Azrael over the intercom as he slowly maneuvered the ship through the asteroids with the skill of someone who had done this run before. It wasn’t long before their destination came into view; Damocles Station.  
The station was spread across one of the larger asteroids as Azrael brought the ship in to one of the landing bays.

When the ship came into land, a woman could be seen walking up to greet Azrael and the others as they left the ship. The woman wore an opened red to black coloured jacket with the sleeves rolled to her elbows, revealing the black coloured corset underneath with red linings and black fingered gloves. Her black trousers had criss-crossed laces that gave them a fishnet look along with a familiar looking thorn whip twice wrapped round her waist.  
The woman smiled in amusement as Evan bounced of the ship with sheer glee written right across his face, muttering something about finally getting trained. After Evan came a triceratops creature that she assumed to be the prisoner, “You must be the one called DeVoe. Welcome to Damocles Station” said the woman to DeVoe who was too busy taking in the sights to properly reply to her.  
“Ignore him Aryanna, he’s just overwhelmed after being in his think box too long” said Valkyrie as she, Azrael and Blake walked out from behind DeVoe. Aryanna smiled slightly at Valkyrie’s remark, “You never change do you Amir?” Aryanna asked her old friend who just shrugged her shoulders but came in for a hug regardless.  
“Love to catch up on old times guys, but I’m only here to get Azrael for his meeting with the boss” said Aryanna apologetically to Amir and Blake who nodded in understanding and took there leave while Aryanna and Azrael left for the main command room.

“Judging from how he came off the ship, you caved and are going to train Evan in becoming a Defender didn’t you?” pondered Aryanna as the two old friends continued down a corridor towards the command room, “Yeah well, figured that it would at least stop him from pulling stunts like this one for a while hopefully” sighed Azrael, as he thought of all the times Evan had tried to sneak away on missions behind Azrael’s back over the last three years and the heart attacks that ensued them. “How are things going between you and Kat anyways?” around the first-year mark of becoming Defenders, Aryanna and Katiana from the Umbra Coven started dating and were currently very happy in their stable relationship.  
“We’re doing good” smiled Aryanna at the thought of her girlfriend before sighing in what sounded like regret, “Just wish the others were here so we could all celebrate the upcoming anniversary together” Azrael had to agree with Aryanna on that front; the war on Spartax took a turn for the worse and Johnson was forced to leave his Defender duties to aid the Spartax armies in their fights against the Sangeili hordes. Tarlak had opted to take a leave of absence in favour of returning to the Martian Colonies to aid with repelling a rebel insurrection that started almost one year ago. Najrn had surprisingly retired from the Defenders scene in favour of becoming the newest ambassador between his people and the Alliance. Rin and Syrian had been wed after a year into being Defenders and were currently learning to be parents with their new-born son; Benn. (Azrael did not cry at the unveiling of the name. He just had space dust in his eye. Aryanna bawled like a baby though.)

The command room was packed with holographic screens that viewed the positions of the Alliance fleets, the area surrounding Damocles Station and known locations to Darkforce strongholds in various galaxies. Paarthurnax was currently standing in the observations deck; a room with windowed walls and flooring as well. The last three years had taken their toll on the old Draconian, which could be seen by the increasing grey hairs and tired look that never left Paarthurnax’s face.  
“You wanted to see my chief?” questioned Azrael as he stood in the doorway of the observation deck. Hearing Azrael’s voice brought Paarthurnax out of his musing, as he turned on the spot to face the Gallifreyan hybrid before him with a grandfatherly smile, “Yes my boy, please come in. You too Aryanna” called Paarthurnax as the two entered the observation deck. Just then a woman appeared, dressed in a purple and black hooded jacket with four splits to appear as a mini dress, black trousers with purple lining that were tucked into her back boots and black fingerless gloves.  
“Overwatch can you please bring up the Martian case for me?” asked Paarthurnax to the woman, who raised her hooded head to reveal the blue, holographic face of one Jocasta. “Right away Director” said Jocasta as she brought forth several holographic screens, each showing blurred images of a creature in the snow and a probably out-dated picture of Tarlak tagged to it.  
“As the two of you are aware, Defender Ymir took leave of duty over a year ago to aid the colonies in a rebel insurrection. It has come, with terrible news to the Alliance, that the King and Queen of the Marian Colonies has been assassinated by these rebels who now occupy the Martian populace with fear and iron-willed oppression” informed Paarthurnax to Azrael and Aryanna who remained silent in their digestion of the facts on Tarlak. “Due to the surfacing of this image” added Jocasta as she enlarged the blurry image of the creature, “We have reason to believe that Defender Ymir is still alive and is helping aid the Rebel Colonists against the new ruler”  
“Your mission is to find out anything you can about the new Colony ruler as well as finding and aiding Defender Ymir against these invaders” finished Paarthurnax as he dismissed the two in order for them to prep for their mission.

“Oh come on, you just got back from a mission and besides, I thought we could get some training in” complained Evan to Azrael as he made his way to the docking bay, “I know buddy, trust me when I say there’s nothing more I want than spending time with you, but Tarlak is an old friend who needs our help” replied Azrael with a heavy sigh as Evan pulled another pout. Azrael and Aryanna were joined on their mission by Amir, Blake, Rin, Caliban and Aztek who all volunteered in helping Tarlak.  
“Tell you what buddy, as a way of making up this rain check; I’ll let you come with us if you promise to listen to me and stay by my side got it?” offered Azrael, which had Evan grinning once again and saying yes before Azrael could come to his senses on the matter. 

Elsewhere…  
Location: Phobos

The seemingly endless blizzard was a nightmare for the two soldiers trying to battle through it. They had been ordered by their king to hunt down the recently escaped colonists who had fled into the Pavonis Mountains, which was where this blizzard appeared out of nowhere.  
“lyuboy priznak ikh?” questioned one of the soldier to their partner on the comms, only for garbled sounds and faint screaming to come through. Alarmed by the commotion of the other end of the comms, the soldier raised his weapon and swept the area, or as much as he could see in this thick blizzard, until he spotted the outline of a large individual, “Nazovite sebya” grunted the solider to the outline.  
Suddenly, the soldier felt two sharp digs in his chest and decided to investigate, only to find two dagger sized icicles protruding from his chest. The figure had thrown them at the soldier and started making its way to him in the confusion, until the last thing the soldier saw before dying was the looming face of the assailant; dark green with one red eye baring down at him as he let the cold take him.

Elsewhere…  
Location: Valérya Outpost

The war against the Sangeili hordes looked as if it would never end, but this was something else entirely Johnson thought as he and his squad rocketed their way through the debris of Valérya Outpost.  
“What do the Sangeili blighters have that can do something like this?” wondered one of Johnson’s squad members aloud as their touches shinned through the various sized holes in the research station as bits of cargo floated about in the zero-gravity atmosphere, “Honestly, don’t think this was the Sangeili” said another squad member as they inspected large claw-like cashes running down a wall, appearing to lead towards the main laboratory.

The squad managed to make it into the security room without seeing much of anything, which really put them on edge. “Hey chief, come see this” said one of the squad members to Johnson as he revealed the recovered security footage. The image itself was in black and white, but Johnson could make out quite clearly someone dressed in very advanced Spartan armour coming into the laboratory with strange robot humanoids who just started shooting security and grabbing any lab coats they could.  
“Who the hell could have done that?” questioned Johnson aloud, when the silence was interrupted by the distant yet loud clanking of metal stomps. Alarmed by the sudden noise, everyone cocked their weapons towards the door they just came in, waiting for something to rear their mug for target practice. The squad was occupied on the door, that they failed to notice the strange robot slowly descending through the vents behind as it uncurled its sharp tail before impaling one of the squad members and dragging them into the vents, while the other turned and unloaded their rounds into the ceiling.  
“We have to get out of here!” yelled one of the squad members, while activating their thrusts to get some momentum, another robot jumped out of the shadows and grabbed another one; leaving Johnson and two others to escape the base.

As they powered through towards the way out, Johnson and the others could hear the increasing rustling as more and more robot things burst out the walls to give case. “You guys keep going, I’ll see about holding them off” said one of the squad members as they lowered their thrust and loaded their weapon. Johnson and the other squad member could only nod in agreement as they pressed on with the sound of gunfire in the background. It wasn’t long however, until the gunfire ceased altogether. After the silencing of the gunfire, it was as if the robots had all just disappeared, making the remained squad members really uncomfortable as the exit came into view.  
“Looks like we’re gonna make it” said the squad member with glee; only for them to have spoken too soon, as out of the darkness behind them shot a robotic tendril that went right through their chest and yanked them back into the darkness, leaving Johnson completely alone.  
“This is Lieutenant Johnson of the Spartax Alliance, requesting emergency backup on the Valéryan Outpost. The rumours appear to be true; the Prometheans exists, repeat Promethea has awoken” said Johnson into his radio link, hoping someone on the other end heard his plea before arming himself with two energy blades as four figures stumbled into the light; revealing Johnson’s squad members, augmented by strange robotic graphs. All four of them then stepped aside as the armoured Spartan from the footage came into view, gun cocked and aimed at Johnson; and fired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lining up a few future story points that'll be fun to explore; first up being Tarlak's then maybe onto Johnson's or have something in between, haven't decided yet so enjoy :3


	3. Welcome to the Tundra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While traveling to Phobos to help Tarlak with the increasing problems within the Martian Colony, Azrael and the others find themselves suddenly separated in a crash. Will they manage to find one another and make it off Phobos in one piece?

Location: Phobos 

During their flight to the icy planet of Phobos; home to the Martian colony and one Tarlak. Azrael and Aryanna took the time to get the others up to speed on their current mission.  
“Alright you lot; as you know, Tarlak left the Inquisition in order to aid in dealing with a rebel insurrection here on Phobos. Last contact we had from him was that the insurrection leader had managed to take over the Colony and putting a bounty out on him and others for ‘treason’” explained Azrael to the others with the aid of the same images Jocasta had shown him and Aryanna during their briefing. “The Director wants us to make contact with the colony and try to aid Tarlak in any way we can alright?” added Aryanna as she looked round the familiar, yet older, faces of her friends.

Rin had really come a long way from the scrawny troublemaker back at the Academy, he was now fathering a new generation of Defenders along with Azrael, despite his protesting on the matter, which brought a warm, motherly smile to Aryanna’s face. She was still surprised that Syrian would let him keep the scruffy beard, thinking the little one would yank the entire thing off Rin’s face one day. His attire consisted of a black and red lined Asgardian plated chest piece with matching shoulders, boots and gauntlets; his hair still in an unkept mess of dark blue.  
Aztek, for the most part, had remained the same as he was during his time in the Academy. His attire consisted of the black sleeveless, closed tunic with golden Aztec symbol etched into the sides, stone gauntlets on each arm and footless fur boots exposing his turquoise feet to the world. Along with the long, red shaver on his back, Aztek also carried a small red dagger latched to his left side.  
Amir was another one that has remained the same, yet seemed like an entirely different person after she returned from Asgard. Aryanna and the others were surprised to have learned that not only Amir had managed to join the ranks of the Asgardian Valkyries and gain one of their Dragonfangs, but also learn an ancient art of knight-enchanting which acted in a similar way to her symbiote; she could summon various types of melee weapons from her body at will as well as harden her skin for several purposes.  
Aryanna’s trip down memory lane was interrupted by the sudden shaking of the ship, “What the hell was that?” asked Rin rhetorically as Azrael ran to the ship’s control to take over from auto-pilot. “Better buckle up guys, the locals don’t look too fond of our arrival” informed Azrael as the ship shuddered once again, spark flying and steam coming out of places it shouldn’t. As Azrael managed to barely dodge another incoming projectile, another managed to hit the ship dead on, causing massive damage and the team to be split along with the ship that tore in two.

Aryanna groaned from the pounding over both her hearts and her head, she was definitely going to feel this in the morning. “Sound off if you ain’t dead in there” she grunted into her part of the wreaked ship, only for Aztek and Caliban to grunt in response as he stumbled into her sight.  
“That’s the last time I ever let Az put the damned ship on auto-pilot on a mission into enemy territory” grumbled Caliban as he nursed the bump on his head. Looking around the area, Aryanna noticed a black streak of smoke coming from the nearby mountain range, barely visible over the treeline but she saw it regardless. Aryanna’s musing on getting to the others was interrupted by the sudden sound of a branch snap echoing in the distance, alerting them that they had company; only for Amir to stumble into view.  
“Damn it Amir, thought you were a hostile for a minute there” grumbled Aryanna while Amir simply waved off her friends complain as she rolled her shoulders, checking for anything broken. Once satisfied that nothing was broken, Amir fully stepped out of the bushes, dragging an unconscious creature with her, “look what I found” cheered Amir a little too happily.  
Before they could comment on the body that Amir had ‘found’, the Defenders suddenly found themselves surrounded by tall, armoured green men and women armed with weapons.  
“ruki v vozdukhe, ty okruzhen” spoke one of the green men as he aimed his weapons at Aryanna’s head. Rather than comply with the demand, Aryanna spared one glance at Aztek, who nodded in agreement, before the two sprang into action.  
Aztek brought down his large shaver between two soldiers before spinning on the spot to cleave them both. Another soldier shot some energy blasts at Aztek, only for them to gain the attention of the large Osh-Tian, and for Aztek to blast them with a concentrated sunlight beam. 

Another soldier was about to fire on Aztek, when a metal chain suddenly wrapped round him and pulled him off into the tree line. Aztek allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief when Caliban walked out of the tree line that the soldier had been pulled into. Caliban wore a closed leather jacket that had an open, white rectangle in the middle with a metal armed guard on the right shoulder, faded grey trousers tucked into his boots and biker gloves. A strange feature about Caliban wasn’t just the strange, glowing tattoos on his forehead and temples, it was the fact that his hair was in fact constantly on fire and his eyes were a similar shade of colour to the fire with black iris.  
“Can’t keep watching your back all the time old man” joked Caliban as he reeled in his chain and wrapped it twice across his body, the two ends attached to knives that clanged at Caliban’s waist. Aztek gave a hearty chortle at the age remark before blasted a beam of sunlight behind Caliban at a sneaking soldier, “I would say the same of you young Cal” said Aztek with a wink before leaping back into the heat of battle with Caliban in tow.

While the boys were fighting the soldier head-on, Aryanna had leapt into the tree line and was now currently skirting round a cautious group of soldiers searching the area for her. Taking a quick peak from her vantage point, Aryanna couldn’t help but smile at the fact that the soldiers were bunched together.  
“Strength of Byron” whispered Aryanna into her totem before placing back into her inside pocket on her jacket and leaping into the air, as her fist was coated in red Titanforce. The soldiers had little reaction time due to, when Aryanna’s fist connected with the ground, a large quake caused them to lose their footing and leave ample opportunity for Aryanna to weave between them all while applying pressure to their nerve points.  
Caliban and Aztek regrouped with Aryanna, when a familiar dagger flew past the three of them and embedded itself into the soldier they had missed.  
“That’s two you owe me now Rosé” said Amir as she emerged from the bushes, dragging with her a couple of soldiers that she had fought. Aryanna rolled her eyes and was about to retort to Amir’s use of her Defender codename and comment, when large booms echoed around their location. Their surroundings were suddenly polluted with familiar orange droids along with large, strange creatures heavily grunting, as if they wanted nothing more than to go wild and eat the present Defenders.  
“Aztek can take the ones of the left while Brimm, you take the ones on the right. Valkyrie and I focus on splitting them down the middle” mentally thought Aryanna to the other Defenders. They were about to execute the plan when a tall, grey haired man appeared between the ranks of monsters and machines. A man dressed in black clothing underneath red armour with yellow lines, covered by a long black cloak with furred lining at the top.  
“I think you and your scoundrel friends caused enough anarchy around here, daughter” scolded the man, making the colour drain from Aryanna’s face as she realised too late who this man before them was; her father Reindor Lundar.

While Aryanna and the others were dealing with the mess they literally landed in, the remaining members of the team found themselves stuck halfway up the mountain range.  
“Any luck contacting the others?” asked Rin to Blake, who was trying their comms, and to Azrael, who was trying to reach out mentally to them. After a few minutes of silence, the two sighed and rose to their feet, indicating they weren’t successful in finding the others. The silent musing between the crash survivors was interrupted by the sudden thunderous booming coming from within the misty clouds.  
“What was that?” questioned Evan aloud however, before anyone could answer the question, large blue figures emerged and surrounded the crash site. The blue figures were nearly the same height as the surrounding trees, all armed with ice-like weapons all poised and red eyes boring into the survivors.  
“Hassrath” whispered Azrael before thrusting out his arm from behind his back, sending out several small daggers made of light that, embedding them into the giant’s weapons, which crumbled upon contact with the daggers. The surrounding giants roared in outrage, bringing their weapons crashing down onto the Defenders, forcing them to leap in various directions with Azrael sending more daggers into the giants and crumbling the limbs that the daggers connected with.  
“Sür and Titan. Let’s focus on dealing with these giants before searching for the others” said Azrael to the others as they leapt in separate directions, with Evan sticking with Azrael. 

In the last three years since learning of the truth of Blackheart and his past, Rin had managed to incorporate more portions of Surtur’s power into himself. Driving Blackheart into the ground, Rin was engulfed in a circling tower of blue fire and began to morph and grow before emerging as a large black and blue demon with golden horns curling like a goat’s. Gripping the hilt of Blackheart and ripping it out of the ground, Sür burst forward and began cutting through the giants left and right.  
The minute the giants were within range, Titan pulled his weapon from his back and began blasting the giants in the face. Noticing that some giants were circling him, Titan pivoted while pulling out his pistol and firing on the two fronts of giants. Finding himself backed against a tree, Titan leapt up the tree before summoning and throwing out a Polar Shield which sliced through the legs of the giants who stumbled and crashed around him.  
“Make sure you don’t wonder off” said Azrael to Evan as he expanded his Bo staff with a glowing blue axe blade on one end before lunging at one giant while breathing a fire plume at another. Evan couldn’t help but stare in awe at the way Azrael managed to multitask between giants, so focused that he failed to notice the giants that were in his blind spots. Steeling his nerves, Evan charged his hands with white fire-like energy before outstretching his hands and blasting the sneaky giants in the back which gained the attention of Azrael who finished off the giants. 

“There seems to be no end to them” said Titan as they were all forced to huddle together in survival once again, as more giants appeared faster than the Defenders could put down, “Rex scutum est scriptor” chanted Azrael, slamming his staff into the ground as a protective bubble surrounded the Defenders.  
Not a minute after the bubble went up, a beam of aurora energy collided with the shield, “Great as if these giants weren’t enough to handle” moaned Sür as Azrael was slowly pushed back by the intensity of the beam combined with blows from the surrounding giants. While this was happening, the blizzard strangely seemed to become more violent while dropping in temperature at the same time, making concentrating on the shield difficult for Azrael.  
“Get ready for round 2 guys, shield’s gonna give out” warned Azrael as the shield slowly dwindled before disappearing completely, exposing the others to the sudden harsh conditions of the blizzard, the last thing anybody seeing was the approaching shadow of a large figure wading through the blizzard in their direction.

Azrael jolted up with a gasp for breath as he took in the sudden change in surroundings. How he went from being stuck in the middle of a blizzard to the warmth of someone’s hut was beyond him, the only questions he had were what happened and were everyone was. The hut was big and warm looking, what with various herbs decorating the surrounding walls along with a stew pot sat in the middle with a fire roaring underneath it. Azrael’s musing was interrupted by the rustling near the fire, as a large figure with a furred black cloak draping over their shoulders raised something to what Azrael assumed was their mouth as a crunching sound followed.  
“I would say that it is rude to stare old friend, but then I have yet to offer you any food to I’d say we’re even for now” said the figure with a deep, familiar voice as the figure rose and turned to Azrael.  
The figure appeared to have thick brown, fur boots on with their black trousers tucked within them and a small fur waist cape that went from their waist to the back of their knees. Coming out of the waist cape was a dark green top with an opened fur body warmer with no sleeves. In fact, Azrael noticed that the person was completely sleeveless; save for the armoured arm guards on their forearms. The cloak was held together by a small clip on the right shoulder with the hood still draped over the person’s face.  
Azrael accepted the offer of food from the person after seeing it to be grilled fish, when he spotted the unmistaken hilt of North Star strapped to the waist of the person. “Interesting sword you have their, where’d you get it?” asked Azrael with caution as the hooded man looked down towards the hilt before reaching back for it, only to pull out a shattered dagger length sword.  
“Bastards broke it when they stormed the compound almost a winter ago” sighed the man as he ran his green hand over the broken sword. Upon closer inspection, Azrael spotted the forming of what looked like crystals dotted up the man’s arm; only adding to his suspicions.  
“Are you going to hide under that hood all day?” asked Azrael to the man, who’s shoulders began rigged before shaking with what appeared to be laughter. “And here was me thinking that I could as they say, pull the wool from your eyes” laughed the man as he drew the hood back, revealing the green face, crystal-lined and single eye of Azrael’s old friend and comrade; Tarlak Markeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the teams have been taken to two separate places; with Aryanna's lot captured by her father (gasp) while the rest have been taken in by the very person they were sent to look for. Bet there's some questions floating and hope they get answered in the following arc to say the least, so enjoy :3


	4. Crisis on Phobos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rescue team has landed on Phobos, but only half of them have made it to Tarlak and the rebels. With the others being held by the Colony's mysterious Tyrant; what will the Inquisition do in order to get out of this mess?

Planet: Phobos  
Location: Ruins of Pavonian Village

After a very emotion reunion between old friends, Tarlak took Azrael out of the hut and into the refugee camp created within the ruins of the once Pavonian Village. As Azrael walked with Tarlak through the camp, he noticed that the refugees praised and attempted to reach out to touch Tarlak as if he was a god walking amongst them.  
“Looks like a lot has happened in the two years since you left” said Azrael as they walked through the camp towards some ruins, “These people look up to you as a saviour and there’s the fact that you’re missing an eye dude” Tarlak smirked at the remark Azrael made towards his missing appendage.  
Back in the hut, he had explained to his friend that the current ‘overlord’ in the colony challenged the Queen to a champion’s brawl, with Tarlak being the chosen champion for the Queen. The opposing champion was a silent mystery to Tarlak, he was completely clad in dull blue armour with black waist cape. His helmet was strangely shaped like a bat and his eyes a fiery red unlike any Tarlak had seen. While Tarlak managed to put up one hell of a fight, one that cost him an eye, in the end it was the opposing champion that bested him with their merciless combat tactics.  
The two friends walked in silence as a large ruin with resemblance to would was once a temple came into view, as they walked under a stone archway and into the large tent in the centre, Azrael was greeted by Evan hugging him with Rin, Blake and Princess Amari looking on from a distance.  
“I’m glad that you have awoken Defender Draak. I would also like to convey my sincerest apologies for the small attack that transpired at your crash site” spoke the princess as she respectively bowed before Azrael who was laughing nervously and rubbing the back of his head with Evan still latched to his waist.  
While the princess had the natural dark green skin and red eyes of a Martian, her attire did not speak to Azrael of a princess, more of a veteran general tired of war. She had on a white tailcoat that was covered by a green armoured chest piece, black trousers tucked into her armoured boot and gloved gauntlets that rest on the hilt of her blade strapped to her waist. Before any of them could bring Azrael up to speed on the current situation, they were interrupted by the arrival of a surprising person; someone who boiled Azrael’s blood and shocked Rin and Blake.

Planet: Phobos (Martian Colony)  
Location: Pyramidion Dungeon

The dungeon of the Pyramidion were filled with silence, save for the cliched dripping of water in the distance as Aryanna and the others sat in their prison cells. Their musing on escape was short lived when the door to the dungeon swung open, and in clomped Reindor as he stopped in front of Aryanna’s cell.  
“Look at you, my daughter a noble born from Gallifrey reduced to a mere follower of a lost cause” sighed Reindor while Aryanna chose to remain quiet and imagining shooting lasers out her eyes at her father, “You have squandered every gift that I every bestowed upon you like some ungrateful child, now here we are with you once again taking up the wrong side” Reindor balled his fist and punched the wall next to the cell door, knocking loose some mortar in the form of dust.  
“All I remember getting from you was sour looks and the harsh reality that, no matter what I did you always found fault and focused solely on that” spat Aryanna at her father who remained silent, “Ma was the only person that made that torture bearable, until you tried to take her power for yourself and murdered her”  
Reindor said nothing as he backed away from Aryanna’s cell and turned to leave the dungeon, “Although it may be hard to hear right now petal, but I truly am grateful for you sparing me back in the tower, I saw in you that day the same kindness and fire that drove your mother” said Reindor sincerely before he left the dungeon to the silent dripping once again. 

Location: Pavonian Cathedral

“What the hell is he doing here of all places” demanded Azrael as he pointed at the one standing in the doorway. Since Blake and Rin also seemed to be on edge at the sight of this person, a confused Evan was left to turn to Tarlak for answers.  
“While I too am wary on this alliance, the choice was not mine to make. Besides he has come through in the past with details on the Cabal and their actions” explained Tarlak as he placed a hand on Azrael’s shoulder, anchoring him from doing a foolish act. The one causing such emotion between the Defenders was none other than the Talon Noir member known only as Dusk who raised his hands up in surrender.  
“Believe me when I tell you that I am sorry for what happened all those years ago at the Tournament, and that I bring no harm to you or the Alliance” said Dusk as he fully stepped into the tent with Azrael and the other Defenders taking a cautious step back, “The only reason that I joined the Cabal was because Peylix promised to restore my memories and help me find my family. I never agreed to be an executioner and my memories are most certainly not worth the blood on the Cabal’s hands. Which is why I have been acting as a mole for the Alliance inside the Cabal, how else would you have found DeVoe if not for me?”  
At the mention of DeVoe and the sincere look in Dusk’s eyes, Azrael found himself lowering his arms and relaxing his posture, prompting the others to do the same. “Thank you Draak for being so understanding” said Amari with a smile before turning to Dusk with a straight face, “What’s the word from the front?”

Location: Pyramidion Dungeon

The dripping from within the dungeon was bad enough for Amir, she really didn’t want to also have to listen to Caliban and his god-awful attempts at music either. Some guards had previously come into the dungeon to escort Aryanna out of her cell and into the Pyramidion, leaving the rest of them to either rot or go deaf from Caliban’s attempt to murdering music. Rather than voice her complaints on deaf ears once again, Amir channelled her focus onto getting them out of the dungeon and get Aryanna out of whatever hellhole she’s been put in.  
While being escorted by the guards through the vast halls of the Pyramidion, Aryanna continued to glance around looking for viable escape routes but having next to no luck in finding one. Her searching was cut short when the escorting guards stopped her in front of a set of large doors with another two identical guards at either end of it. After talking in some langue that Aryanna couldn’t understand, the door guards stepped aside as the large door slowly swung inwards and Aryanna was ushered into the room by the escorts.

The overall room was large, triangular shaped out of a cream coloured stone with several windows lining the walls, basking the room with natural light. Pillars stood with several meters between each one running from one end of the room to the stars at the far end, with a lush green carpet running down the middle. As Aryanna was escorted down the aisle, she imagined that this would be a similar setting to ones’ wedding; save for the Cabal Droids stalking the edges of the room, communicating only by robotic screeches to one another as Aryanna passed. As she reached the stairs, Aryanna stopped two of the large creatures that surrounded her and the other back at the crash site, her father standing with his hands behind his back next to a large golden throne and there sat in a bored manner, by Aryanna’s assumption, was the Rebel leader that overthrew Tarlak’s parents.  
“Leave us” spoke Reindor to the guards, who simply bowed before pivoting on the spot and walking back the way they had just came in. The room was in complete silence when the distance thud of the doors being shut, indicating to Aryanna that the guards at left the room with her father and the guy slumped on the throne as if it were an armchair.  
“So, you must be Reindor’s daughter Aryanna then” said the one on the throne in a bored manner, “I’ll admit that you are prettier than I had previously thought” Aryanna allowed her right eye to twitch slightly, while taking in the sight of her father subtly shuddering. Upon inspection, Aryanna had to admit that there wasn’t much to this rebel leader as previously believed; he looked more like an exiled pompous prince than a notorious rebel leader. He wore black royal clothing with dark silver armour gauntlets and knee guards with fur sticking out of the edges. A white furred cape, the staple of leadership in Phobos, was pinned across his right shoulder which draped down to the back of his knees. His green face marred by several sized scars, the most notable and largest being the one covering where his right eye was.  
The leader was silent as he rose from the throne before slowly descending the stairs and standing before Aryanna. “Alas, this next part may come across as a shock, but I suppose introduction are in order” spoke the leader as he outstretched his arms and mocked bowed before Aryanna, “Prince Tarlak Markeed at your service” 

Location: Pavonian Cathedral

While the others were being debriefed by the latest update from Dusk, Tarlak took Azrael to one side for a much need discussion. “Look, I know that you have no reason to trust Dusk any more than any other survivor of Orion” whispered Tarlak as Azrael simply rolled his eyes at the understatement but remained silent all the same, “But he has really helped us here in our fight against Reindor and the Tyrant” The mention of Aryanna’s father and former councilman Reindor caught Azrael’s attention.  
“Reindor was exiled from Gallifrey for conspiring with zealots of Peylix, so it stands to reason that he’s either in league or is even a chairman of this Cabal. What eludes me is their interest in Phobos and the colony” pondered Azrael aloud, the train of thought was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Dusk.  
“Defender Ymir, the debriefing on the Tyrant is about to commence if you and Defender Draak are able to join us” informed Dusk with Tarlak nodding and heading back to where everyone was.  
“I have no memory of my life before becoming part of the Cabal” said Dusk suddenly to Azrael who stopped to hear what he had to say, “Peylix promised that he would restore my memories and reunite me with my family if I follow him. I can from my instincts that I was a good man, as I do not trust Peylix and his promises. Therefore, I have vowed to help the Alliance as a means of finding out the truth while not losing my honour in the process” Azrael was taken aback from the revelation Dusk had just revealed to him, for a minute he thought that Dusk was someone he once knew; but that just wasn’t possible.

Location: Pyramidion Throne Room

Aryanna could tell that ‘Tarlak’ was expecting a more shocked expression that the one she gave, so she understood his confused face when she suddenly burst into a laughing fit.  
“Sorry hun, it’s just that you honestly think that Ymir would hide something like this from us? You really don’t know him as well as you proclaim” laughed Aryanna whilst Tarlak’s face seemed to redden with anger. Raising his hand as a means of signalling the Droids, Aryanna found herself suddenly surrounded by Cabal Droids with weapons trained on her. However, rather than showing fear at the current situation, Aryanna actually continued to show an unsettling grin before leaping into the air as the Droids opened fire.  
Landing with beautiful grace behind the circle and breaking her shackles like they were paper; Aryanna got to work dismantling the Droids with her bare hands, crushing limbs in her hands like you would a stress ball and tossing them like dolls over the hall. Aryanna made sure to always remain either behind the pillars or near another Droid to evade being shot at by the barrage of projectiles coming her way before pulling down her glove, revealing a worn leather bracelet with four golden pendants attached.  
Upon coming into contact with the golden pendant with a lion’s face etched into it, a swirling pillar of various coloured flames enveloped Aryanna.  
“Gauntlets of Burning Brilliance” said Aryanna as the flames dissipated, revealing an unharmed Aryanna who was now sporting golden gauntlets shaped exactly like lion faces, golden iris’ and what appeared to be her hair taking the form of cat ears. Sensing the increasing hostilities against their master, the two creatures leapt at Aryanna with impressive speed, “Regulus Barrage” muttered Aryanna as her lion gauntlets began to shine and thrust them into the oncoming creature and sending it hurtling through the far wall behind the throne. The other was distracted enough by the display of strength, that Aryanna managed to get really close for her next attack.  
“Subra Burst” said Aryanna as she shot the distracted creature with a beam of sparking golden energy, catapulting it through the ceiling of the Pyramidion to places unknown.

The silence between the three remaining occupants of the Throne Room was broken by the other Defenders bursting into the room via a hole in the wall, armed for a fight.  
“Guess that means you owe me one Brim” said Valkyrie with an ever-knowing smile present of her face at the site of carnage Aryanna had left in her wake. The moment was cut short by the bashing at the doors, indicating the guards had heard the commotion and were now attempting to breach the room, “Guess that’s our que to leg it” said Aztek with everyone nodding in agreement and retreated to their freshly made hole in the wall. Aryanna spared her father one more glance before she joined the others and escaped the Pyramidion and attempt to leave the colony.

Location: Pavonian Cathedral

“This is the latest rotational pattern for the Pyramidion patrols” said Dusk indicating towards the red dots displaying on the holographic projection of the Pyramidion. So far, the plan consisted of a small number to resistance troop and the Defenders infiltrating the colony through the tunnel system underneath and access the Pyramidion where they would apprehend the Tyrant as well as rescue the captured Defenders. The planning was interrupted by the sudden burst of a trooper entering the tent in a hurry with a large radio in his hands.  
“Sorry to interrupt Ma’am, but the colony chatter is lighting up about escaping Defenders” huffed the trooper who then proceeded to hold out the radio towards Azrael, “That’s not all, I’ve reason to believe that they are trying to communicate through this radio” Azrael took the radio from the trooper and held it to his ear.  
“High Hrothgar to Salamander. Come in Salamander, do you read?” spoke the garbled voice on the other end, but Azrael knew right away that it was the other; who else would use their personal threat as a codename? Had to be Aryanna.  
“This is Salamander Hrothgar, you guys alright down there? Heard you gave quite the show at the Pyramidion, one for the books” sighed Azrael as he smiled for the first time since waking up in the Pavonian Village.  
“Good to hear that you know bout our awesomeness” said Aryanna with obvious glee in her voice, “Afraid that’s all the good news we have to offer right now. Colony is in lockdown and Cabal Droids are storming the streets” informed Aryanna, sobering the mood of the conference.  
“Which is why we have an awesome plan in the work” said another voice on the radio, and suddenly the familiar voice of Amir was coming through, “Now listen closely”

Location: Unknown  
Tarlak continued to pace the room with obvious anxiety, he had yet to bring the rebels in line as he had promised along with the relic, and now the Defenders he captured were now loose in the Colony.  
“It would seem that you are becoming more and more dispensable by the minute Markeed” said Reindor without turning to face the pacing prince, “You came to my master with promises of one of the Nine Relics of Susion so, at this point in time one must ask the question; when will you deliver?” Tarlak turned with his anger spread across his face, when the room darkened and the sudden appearance of Peylix in the centre of the room.  
“Yes, when are you going to deliver as promised?” asked Peylix, watching the colour drain from Tarlak’s face and Reindor bowed his head towards before finally turning to face Tarlak who was on his knees shaking with fear, “Please Master Peylix, I can explain”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finding time to write this has not been easy! Work has been on the increase and with Christmas over (Merry Christmas btw) and now into 2018 (Happy New Year too) hopefully can try and get more chapters out quicker :3


	5. The Revelution Has Begun!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pieces are all falling into place, now all that remains for the Inquisition is to storm the Colony and take it from the Tyrant! Will Tarlak get the justice for his family and restored Amari to the throne?

Location: Pavonian Mountains

Dawn broke over the encampment stationed at the ruins that was once home to the Pavonians. Faint signs of auroras could be visible in the morning sky atop the mountains as Azrael stood alone, practicing stances with his Bo staff.  
“I take it from the way you more, that you’ve trained extensively with that staff” commented someone from behind Azrael, who turned to face the last person he’d expect to see; Dusk. “That form you’re using. Taught by the Yggdrasil Monks was it not?” asked Dusk while Azrael remined silent while refusing to look Dusk in the eye as the cold winter wind whipped between the two.  
“No offense to you Dusk, I appreciate all that you’ve done for Amari and the Alliance. But what you did in the past can’t be simply forgiven by some acts of kindness and bits of espionage” said Azrael as he backed away to resume his morning staff practice. Dusk hung his head but understood what Draak was telling him, he was about to turn and leave him in peace when they both heard a strange sound coming from the tress down the slope.

Azrael and Dusk traversed the snowy slops that lead downwards into the forest, and the origins of the strange noise. The two suddenly found themselves in a moderate opening in the forest with clear sights on the sky above, the ground littered with supplies and equipment enough for a single person. Upon hearing a twig snap behind them, Azrael and Dusk sharply turned on the spot while drawing their weapons to face a strange man wearing white clothes with talismans stitched into them.  
“You know that it’s rude to go through another person’s belongings” said the stranger, his voice muffled by the mask, but something sounded familiar about him.  
“Could say that same of you hiding away in our encampment” replied Dusk with an indication for the person to drop their name; which they did not. “The hour draws ever closer.” said the man enigmatically, “The nine must unite or else lose the Galaxy to Darkness”

Back at the encampment, Azrael and Dusk informed Amari and the others on the masked stranger in the wood and his cryptic message.  
“The description that you both gave is consistent with sightings our sentries have reported on a mysterious individual” said Amari as she stroked her chin in thought. This mystery person would have to wait until later, as they had an assault to plan and co-ordinate with the others within the Colony.

Location: Martian Colony

The entire colony had been put into lockdown after Aryanna and the others had managed to escape Tarlak’s clutches. While they thought that hiding would prove to be somewhat of a challenge, they were rather surprised to find so many colony members helping them in eluding the oppressive might of Tarlak the Tyrant as they called him.  
“That’s everything on our end in place, all that remains is for the others to do their part and the colony will be back to normal in no time” assured Aryanna to the other colonists bunkered down deep within a basement. Aryanna could see that none of these people knew how to fight, with the way some of them held household items as lifesaving weapons and others visibly shaking from nerves.  
“Sorry for bringing this up, but do any of you know the story behind the Tyrant and why he calls himself Tarlak?” questioned Caliban, reminding Aryanna and Amir that he wasn’t with them when their Tarlak revealed the truth to them. Amir opened her mouth to start the story but was silence by one of the elders answering the question for her.  
“He was once a proud prince of the Martian Royal Family, groomed for the throne which seeded in his heart and mind a greed for status and power. One day, the king and the prince stumbled upon an old village high in the mountains and came across the last Pavonian. The young Pavonian was taken into the family and raised to be a protector of the throne, but Tarlak saw this one as a threat to the mantle and sought to usurp him. So Tarlak, with mind filled with selfish need for power, took the Pavonian out into the mountains where mercenaries bought by the prince laid in wait; but problems arose, and it was actually the Prince that ended up mortally wounded” explained the elder to the young Defender with a glimpse of fire in their eyes.  
“The young Pavonian took the name of the fallen prince and returned to the colony with no one, save for the king, the wiser until the queen revealed to all the truth before the Tournament three years past. By then, the Pavonian had earned the trust of the people in his acts of honouring the memory of Tarlak and was given the people’s blessing to remain Tarlak Markeed; protector of the Martian Colony. When the real Tarlak suddenly returned with an army of metal soldiers and Kursed Ones, the people saw him for what he truly was; a power mad tyrant bend on revenge, and they rejected him. With his silent champion besting the colony’s, Tarlak seized the throne from his dying parents with the intent of killing the Pavonian and his younger sister Amari, however the people rebelled and saved them before the Tyrant could execute them”

Aryanna had known about Tarlak’s hardships at the hand of the prince, but never did she imagine that the prince would return in such a fashion and brutally take everything from Tarlak. She was going to enjoy making the Tyrant Tarlak suffer for wounding her friend in such a manner, that was a promise.  
“Ghost to Hrothgar, you there?” spoke a garbled voice on the intercom system as Aryanna scrambled to the receiver, “This is Hrothgar speaking, what’s your situation Ghost?” asked Aryanna as Blake began telling her the updates to the plan, which she turned to tell the others.  
“Right then, Operation Piccolo has finished phase one; the rebels have begun their descent and will be reaching the Colony gates by morning, giving us a window to begin our side of the operation” explained Aryanna with various heads bobbing in agreement. Aryanna dismissed everyone to prepare for the upcoming fight on their hands.

Outskirts of the Martian Colony

A frosty mist rolled down from the mountains towards the Colony, buildings of various heights hidden inside a bowl of mountains with a Pyramid shaped building rising higher than the others towards the largest of the mountains. Azrael took in the view from their position in the mountains as the sun broke between the mountains, that the colony was truly a sight of pure beauty. A yawn broke him from his musing as he was joined by Evan who was rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  
“It’s really pretty here” gasped Evan in awe as he came up to stand next to Azrael, looking at the youngster with a warm smile on his face before turning back to the view, “It sure is Evan. Come on now, the others will be waking up soon and we’ve got a lot to get through Genesis” replied Azrael as he turned to head back to camp; realising that Evan wasn’t behind him, Azrael turned to find a confused Evan staring back at him.  
“Why did you say Genesis?” questioned Evan, earning a snort from Azrael while also shrugging his shoulders, “You’ve been pestering me for months to give you a Defender codename, if you don’t like it can always leave it till we’re back-” Azrael never finished his sentence as he suddenly had an Evan wrapped tightly round his waist mumbling something about it being perfect and endless thanks. “Alright kid, let’s go get the others and get this show on the road” said Azrael as he and Evan, now dubbed Genesis, left the view behind and returned to the camp to begin the preparation.

The colony streets were totally void of life, not a single person dared to leave their homes as Tarlak marched down the main avenue with his mechanical soldiers behind him. Reindor watched Tarlak begin his way to the Colony Wall from his balcony at the Pyramidion, “Should the boy fail us again, can I trust in you that the correct course be taken?” asked Peylix as he emerged from the dark room, flickering occasionally to show that he was a hologram.  
“The boy knows that this is his final attempt at joining the Cabal” replied Reindor without taking his eyes of the retreating force of machines and monsters, “Should it come to it, I will personally see to it that he does not spill our secrets” Content with Reindor’s answer, the hologram of Peylix began to flicker and fade, leaving Reindor alone on the balcony with only his thoughts as company.

Amari had a very grim look on her face. Her scouts had just returned with a report stating that the Tyrant had set up a large force of Droids at the front gate of the colony along with reports of possible Kursed Ones in the area. Amari cursed that Tarlak would so foolish to use such a forbidden method on his own people to turn them into mindless brutes, though his situation was dire to she did understand on some level.  
“Everything alright Princess?” asked Tarlak, bringing Amari focusing onto the situation at hand; preparing their assault on the colony.  
“Yes brother, I was simply deep in thought over the reports that we received from the front. Where are we on preparation?” asked Amari as she returned focus at the map of the area in front of them. Agreeing with his sister that the reports were grim, Tarlak shifted his focus on bringing the Princess up to speed on the current plan of attack.

While the other Defenders separated themselves within the trees above, Tarlak and Azrael remained on the ground still shrouded by the mists that remained in the morning air.  
“Guess today is the day you get payback on that Tyrant brother of yours” said Azrael to Tarlak as they watched the Droids guarding the gates, Tarlak managed to keep his laughter supressed, but Azrael still heard it and smiled all the same before lowering his goggles and activating his face mask.  
Azrael brought his right hand in front of his face and made a fist, save for his index and middle fingers that remained straight and muttered quietly, “multi autem sunt in” as the mists around himself and Tarlak became more intense as they swirled round them.

Sensing the sudden change in the mists, the Droids turned to investigate the anomaly when from the tree line; appeared several versions of the same masked individual armed with a staff. While some Droids where taken out by the assailants, others began firing on them and crushing them with their fists, only to find the assailants to burst into clouds of smoke. While the Droids were busy dealing with the smoke army, the other Defenders managed to jump the wall and successfully enter the colony; only to be greeted by Tarlak and his squad of Droids.  
“I welcome you all to the Colony” mocked Tarlak as he opened his arms wide as if greeting them with warmth, “Now if you could all kindly surrender” With the Droid’s guns cocked at them waiting to unleash hell upon them, the Defenders slowly rose their hands in the air in surrender; when a sudden banging could be heard against the gates. Tarlak signalled one of the droids to investigate the noise when the gates suddenly froze over and burst open with icy winds blowing through the surrounding streets. From the mists coming from the now opened gates, in marched Ymir with a vengeance with Draak bringing up the rear with his bladed staff.  
“Ah, I see that the Kukaan has finally found the courage to leave his mountains” mocked Tarlak, once again stretching out his arms in a welcoming gesture though it appeared that Tarlak was unfazed by the gesture nor the comment.  
Tarlak motioned for the droids to surround the Defenders, cutting off any means of escape, “I’m afraid that this has all been for naught brother. I will collect from you what my master is owed and then I will be free to rule Phobos as I see fit without consequence” said Tarlak, motioning for the droids to take aim at the group. Tarlak was about give the order to fire, when various explosions went off around them, disorientating the droids and providing an opening for the Defenders a window to retaliate; with Ymir going facing off against his ‘brother’.  
“Got no champion to hide behind this time brother. Just a showdown between you and I” said Ymir, reaching behind him and taking out a large great sword. The sword had a similar hilt to North Star and the blade had strange ruins up a quart of the way. Ymir rested the blade on the ground as he circled Tarlak, sparks flying as he dragged the sword over the stone floor.

While the Markeed brothers were locked in their intensive rematch, Draak and the other found themselves being joined by Rosé and her band of fighters, “Took you guys long enough to get here” said Aryanna in mock complaint as she and Draak stood back to back, prompting Azrael to laugh a bit before swinging his staff and bisecting a Droid then throwing the Droid pieces to knock other Droids off balance.  
“Looks like I’m winning so far Titan” said Valkyrie as she reduced the size of her arm shield to expel more black daggers into the assaulting Droids, “The fight has only just started Valkyrie, don’t get too ahead of yourself” replied Titan as he flung his Polar Shield and created a gravity well, pulling in surrounding Droids before making a throwing gesture with his shield hand; this prompted the gravity ball holding the Droids together to projectile itself, and the Droids, across the opening before dissipating and raining Droid parts below.  
“Come on guys, betting is what makes it more fun” complained Brimm as he spun his chain around, deflecting shots made by surrounding Droids before sending the bladed tip into their heads and repeating. Aztek and Sür remined silent as they dispatched the surrounding Droids, too focused on the task at hand to reply to Brimm’s complaints; Aztek covered in sparky, black Droid fluid while Sür continued driving his sword through Droid guts and setting them alight in blue blazes.

Tarlak knew that a sword fight with his Kukaan ‘brother’ would only end in his defeat and given that the invaders were tearing the Droids apart, Tarlak knew that he had one last card to play. Disengaging from his brother, Tarlak brought out a button of some kind and pressed it; causing a distant rumbling to occur.  
“If I can’t have what rightfully mine, then none of you can have it” said Tarlak as he used the confusion to make his escape back to the Pyramidion as the white cloud of an avalanche could be seen in the distance. Biting his thumb to draw blood, Ymir proceeded to run the bloodied thumb down the ruins on his sword before impaling the ground with it. The sword blade started to glow a bright blue colour as three magic circles of the same colour appeared around Ymir, before pillars of ice shot out of them and took the form of three Ice Giants.  
“Beskytt kolonien” said Tarlak to the three Giants, who nodded at him before stomping off towards the avalanche. Taking the sword out of the ground and resting it on his shoulder, Tarlak turned back to face his friends who had finished dealing with the Droids and were ready to join him in taking back the Pyramidion and the Colony once and for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The climax of the arc is finally in full swing! Had a hard time trying to get motivation to finish writing this chapter while keep ideas in my head under control, too many thoughts at once hurt head >.< Final confrontation between Tarlak and Tarlak is coming soon, and hopefully can put the confusing name business to bed haha enjoy :3


	6. Aftermath of the Martian Revolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The revolution was a success, now for Ymir to face his tyrant brother one last time in a showdown to determine who rules the Colony. But with the avalanche threatening them all, can the Inquisition safe the day?

Location: Pyramidion

The Pyramidion shook as the avalanche created by Tarlak’s explosions was getting closer to the Colony which meant closer to an icy tomb. Ymir, Draak, Titan and Rosé had left the other to help get the people to safety while they entered the Pyramidion in pursuit of Tarlak, who had sent large beasts to slow the Defenders down.  
“Coward is hiding behind his Kursed like he always does” said Ymir as he thrust his great sword into the gut of a Kursed. There were several Kursed between the team and the Throne Room however, they managed to finally get to the room where they found Tarlak; holding several items that could only be described as Kursed Seeds.  
“Welcome Kukaan, you’ve arrived just in time” greeted Tarlak as he held up the Kursed Seeds, causing Ymir to become very cautious, “What’s the matter brother? Afraid of these little seeds?” to emphasis his point, Tarlak juggling them which caused Ymir to panic slightly.  
“Just put the seeds down and we can talk about this brother” pleaded Ymir after Tarlak was finished juggling the seeds, “You don’t have to do this” Tarlak seemed to be considering Ymir’s plea, however the consideration seemed only fleeting; as Tarlak crushed the seeds within his hands and was shrouded in an ash-like cocoon with red energy pulsing throughout.

Ymir had everyone back away as the cocoon began to crack as pieces started falling off, revealing the changed Tarlak underneath. A deep growling could be heard as a large blackened creature with red markings, similar to the seeds Tarlak had crushed in his hand, burst out of the cocoon; various spikes protruding from its back, shoulders and arms with various tusks decorating its black and red face.  
“He used the Kursed Seeds on himself, the fool” exasperated Ymir as he barred the Throne Room door with the monstrous Tarlak banging on the doors. With their backs against the door as a means to stop Tarlak from breaking out, the other Defenders looked to Ymir for answers.  
“What my brother used to turn himself into that monster are known as Kurse Seeds. They cause an irreversible process that greatly increases ones’ strength and durability, but at the cost of much of their intelligence and free will. Their lives become that of a Kurse; hence their name” explained Ymir as they barely managed to keep the door on its hinges, “What scares me the most is the amount of seeds that Tarlak used for his transformation. Only one is needed to cause the change but to use more than one boggles the mind”

On the other side of the barricaded door, Tarlak was putting his newfound strength to the test with only one outcome in mind; ringing the neck of that Kukaan. Suddenly, Tarlak could begin to hear ghostly whispers inside his head as he tried to literally shake them out. Tarlak suddenly found himself surrounded in dark fog as a figure walked out; revealing none other than Peylix.  
“Your resolve on getting revenge on your brother is most commendable” said Peylix as he circled round Tarlak to inspect his new form, “To go so far to use multiple Kurse Seeds on yourself as a last resort truly speaks of your commitment. Which is why I have appeared before you; I have an offer”  
When the assault on the door stopped, Ymir and the other very cautious in moving from their places against the door, their confusion was met only by the Pyramidion rumbling, no doubt from the approaching avalanche, as they tried their luck in seeing the state of the Throne Room. The group were shocked to discover that Tarlak was nowhere to be seen inside the Throne Room and would have questioned it more; had the rumbling of the avalanche not decided to start up again.  
“We have to get out there and help them” said Azrael as the four made their way outside to help with the evacuation. 

The giants seemed to have managed to slow the avalanche enough for the colonists to safely evacuate, however they weren’t strong enough to stop it completely as the white sheet of snow and ice loomed over the Colony. Everyone seemed to be at a loss at handling the avalanche when a familiar ship shot past and descend onto the open clearing below. As the ship continued its decent, the doors suddenly opened, and a figure suddenly dropped down to the clearing below with a dramatic thud, sending dust everywhere and cracking the stone floor.  
The dust cleared to a woman with long scarlet hair that was loosely tied knot at the back and red markings under her eyes with similar coloured lightning bolt shaped marks running diagonally out of them. Her attire consisted of a revealing halter-type armour breastplate top that left much of her stomach exposed, with light-armoured gauntlets and greaves on her forearms and forelegs, respectively, as well as on her hips. A while piece of cloth hung from her side to obscure her hips with sword sheath attached and a dark scarf was draped around her neck alongside pair of thin ribbons and an armoured band sat upon her head with wings on either side.

“Knightwalker, I know that you enjoy dramatic entrances as much as the next person but was that really necessary?” asked another Defender as they descended from the ship on a slate of water. The Defender in question was a deep brown skinned man with blonde deadlocks and bright blue eyes. He wore black skintight armour with red patches with golden trimmings, his right arm was covered in red armour with a shoulder pad of a similar colour while his left arm remained sleeveless with glowing tattoos down the arm and two Water-Bearers attached to his back.  
“Dramatic entrances are always necessary Manta, though I suppose not in our current situation” surmised Knightwalker as she dusted herself off before standing up from her crouched position. Manta and Knightwalker jogged up to join the other Defenders in holding back the remaining Droids as the ship completed its landing and to more exited the ship.  
One was another red-haired woman who wore a dark grey uniform consisting of combat trousers, long sleeved top that has the middle shaded a lighter grey with a half zip zipped up with the neck still exposed and a utility belt. She also had on black ringed cuffs and shoulder pads with a head harness that went over her forehead and down the sides with her ears visible underneath her red hair.  
The other Defender wore the familiar red and black samurai armour of veteran Defender codenamed Ronin. Ronin had been an active member of the Inquisition in the years since its formation after the Fall of Orion, acting as both mentor and councillor to the rookie Defenders. 

“I’ll be over with you in a minute Ronin, got something to sort out first” said the woman to Ronin, who had also spotted Azrael and Evan and understood what was going to happen, “Alright then Psi, try to leave him in one piece at least” replied Ronin as he left to aid the others while Psi marched over to Azrael and Evan.  
“So, what exactly is going on here then?” Psi questioned the two, who previously hadn’t seen her with the others; however now that they had, they were looking visibly paler. “Hey Jeanie, didn’t think you would be part of the reinforcement lot” said Azrael with an awkward laugh as Psi continued to glare up at him.  
“Don’t bother trying to sweettalk your way out of this Sigma. You know how I feel about all this damn it!” exploded Jean as she waved her hands about scolding Azrael like a school child, “What did we agree on about Evan and Defender missions?”  
“That he should be older and more trained before attempting one” replied a voice from behind Jean, who agreed with the reply before double taking as she, Azrael and Evan looked to find someone standing behind Jean with a mischievous grin on their face.  
The person was about the same age and height as Evan with tousled pale blue hair, golden eyes with black across them and white, scale-like skin similar to a snake’s and a single, small horn producing from his forehead. They wore grey plated chest armour with a dark blue open kimono with the sleeves stopping mid forearm, revealing black, long fingerless gloves with grey armour gauntlets and navy trousers that fed into his black calf-length boots.  
Now it was Jean’s turn to be in the hot seat as she began to laugh nervously while turning to face a deadpanned Azrael, “You were saying something about Evan being ready for missions, want to explain what Tatso is doing with you?” questioned Azrael before Jean slam her fist into the top of his head, “You don’t get to play that card, you’re just as guilty” said Jean as Azrael rubbed his head knowing full well that Jean’s anger towards him was gone, replaced by annoyance that Tatso had managed to make her look foolish in front of Azrael.

While Jean and Azrael had their spat, the other Defenders were busy dealing with the remaining Droids while Ymir and Manta took off to deal with the avalanche. Knightwalker seemed to be having a grand time weaving between the droids, twirling her sword with precision and grace.  
“Almost forgot who scary you are with that thing Erza” said Aryanna as she sliced a droid down the middle with her whip and Erza beheaded another and used its severed head as a distraction for another, “Must admit that it is good to be in the heat of bat-tle with old friends” sighed Erza as she continued to mow down the resistance with borderline psychotic glee. One Droid seemed to have the drop on Erza, only for it to be impaled several times by the sentient ribbons round Erza’s neck.  
“Really got to get me some of those” said Aryanna after watching the ribbons tear through another Droid, earning a knowing smirk from Erza as they continued cleaning up.

Ymir and Manta arrived at the edge of the Colony to see that, despite the Giant’s efforts at stopping it, the avalanche was still storming its way towards them.  
“I’m surprised to find that the Colony doesn’t have defences against such a thing” said Manta as he inspected the wave of white heading their way, “Tarlak probably disabled them in order for this avalanche to succeed, this really was his end game” replied Ymir as he looked round the wall before settling on what appeared to be a set of stairs, different from the one they used to reach the wall, “The Giants will try and hold the avalanche off for as long as they are able. You and I have to get the defences back online” explained Ymir before they bolted for the stairs.  
The Droids were dealt with, leaving the Defenders to help the remaining Colonists into the Pyramidion, away from the impending avalanche. Watching from a balcony on the Pyramidion, all the other could do was hope that Ymir and Manta had made it in time as they prepared for the worse with eyes shut tightly. There was a rumble as the avalanche hit the Colony walls, making some of the Colonists scream in fear, but when that was all that happened, they looked about confused and decided ventured outside to see the damage. Both the Colonists and the Defenders were surprised to find that the entire Colony was currently submerged under the avalanche, with a dome protecting them from it. Ymir and Manta appeared running from the wall, being greeted by cheers and applause from the Colonists as they thanked their heroes. 

While they waited for the shield’s heating to kick in and melt the snow atop them, the Defenders were treated to one of the Colony’s celebratory parties in hour of the vanquishing of the Tyrant and for saving the Colony.  
“A toast to the true Tarlak, he who defended our home from invaders and who never surrendered” boomed Amari as she raised her glass with the others doing the same, much to Tarlak’s embarrassment. With the party in full swing, Azrael and the others took this time to enjoy the night as they had earned it; Erza and Tarlak ended up drinking way too much and challenging one another to a game of limbo, Caliban was trying to woo the girls with his ‘singing’ while Amir threw her empty bottles at him as a means to shut him up. Azrael was coming off the ship after putting a tired Evan and Tatso to bed when he was joined by Jean in returning to the party.  
“Can I have this dance?” asked Jean as she lead Azrael into a dance with the faint party music in the background setting the scene.  
“So, I hear that you gave Evan his Defender codename today” said Jean as the two continued their dance, “Yeah, was going to wait until we were back to run it by you, but the moment just seemed right and just went with it” explained Azrael as Jean rested her head on his shoulders and sighed. “Genesis suits him I think, you made the right call as his father” said Jean, feeling Azrael stiffen at the mention of ‘father’.  
It was an ongoing issue with Azrael that he refused to be considered a father to Evan or even Tatso. He kept telling Jean that he wasn’t cut out to be anyone’s father, especially since his own wasn’t in the picture and he was practically raised by his brother; he felt a brother figure suited him better, but Jean and the others knew better.

By the time the morning had come, the avalanche had melted from the dome’s heat and the Defenders were preparing to depart. The Defenders now had to talk with Amari about letting Tarlak return with them to Defender duty, now that his mission was complete.  
“I will agree, only if you all accept honorary Knighthoods in service of your actions against the Tyrant Ruler” decreed Amari to the assembled Defenders, who all accepted the offer and were dubbed ‘Knights of the Colony’. With their Knighting complete, the group boarded the Ark and set course for Damocles Station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First full arc is finished! Tarlak is back, new characters and old faces return and now it's back home for tea and cake... I'm joking of course, next arc is going to have the gang save Johnson from his fate in the war between the Spartans and the Sangeili and a mystery enemy o.O Stay Tuned for More :3


	7. Dillema on Spartax Prime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the events of Phobos now behidn them, the Inquisition looks to enjoy some much needed peace. However peace seems to be fleeting for them, as they're thrust into a new crisis on Spartax Prime, time to find and old friend.

Location: Damocles Station 

It had been several days since the mission on Phobos. Princess Amari had been named the new queen of the Martian Colony and was currently being brought up to speed on Alliance affairs and bringing stability back to the Colony, making Tarlak beam from ear to ear with sheer pride. Speaking of pride, Azrael had kept his promise with Evan and was training him in the basics of combat and controlling his abilities, with Tatso tagging along and Jean watching them all like a hawk, adding her to the ‘mother hen’ roster as dubbed by the others, with Aryanna and Erza being the other members of said group. 

It was one of those rare days when the Defenders could take a breather and semi relax, until the next mission came through. Aryanna was in the lounge reading her latest in romance novels with her usual cup of tea, Tarlak had challenged Kaldür to an arm wrestling which was still too close to call while Rin was busy attending to baby Benn who was tugging at his scruffy beard. With Amir and Ronin in the command station tracking the last known sightings of the Cabal and their forces, Azrael took this opportunity of peace to continue work on the Ark some more.  
“Need a hand with the fine tuning?” asked Evan as he and Tatso came into the hanger as Azrael finished placing a piece back on the Ark with oil smeared across his face, “I’ve finished adding the part if you guys want to calibrate the ship’s systems” replied Azrael as he jumped down to them, ruffling their hair and ushering them onto the Ark. Azrael was just about to join them when the proxy alarm suddenly started blaring, alerting everyone to an intruder on the base. Before Azrael could do anything however, a severely damaged ship could be seen hurtling towards the hanger with no sign of slowing as it scraped its way to a halt in the hanger.  
“Stay inside the ship you two, gonna check this out” called Azrael to Evan and Tatso, who nodded their head as the gangplank was raised for the ship. Upon closer inspection of the smouldering ship, Azrael could spot the distinct features unique to Spartan ship as a sudden bursting of glass put Azrael on edge as a tall figure emerged from the wreaked ship.  
The figure was completely clad in dull blue Spartan H5 Armour which appeared to be slightly battered, no doubt from the crash and whatever the Spartan was fleeing. Spotting Azrael with other Defenders in the distance, the Spartan stumbled towards him while removing his helmet to reveal black hair and a face baring a resemblance with their friend Johnson’s.  
“Defender Draak, my name is Paladin Mason Keyes of the Spartax Elite. I’m here with some troubling new” informed Mason, but before he could continue he collapsed into Azrael arms, no doubt from exhaustion.

Several minutes later in the infirmary, Mason was receiving treatment from Thane while Azrael filled Paarthurnax in on what happened.  
“The damage done to his ship isn’t like anything that I’ve seen before. Certainly not from any known Sangeili weapons” said Azrael as they waited for Thane’s prognosis, the war between the Spartans and the Sangeili had been going for as long as anyone dared remember. It was only recently that a splinter faction of Sangeili rebelled against their rulers and joined the Spartans in turning the tide, this was around the time that Johnson left the Inquisition to aid in the war.  
“I suppose we’ll learn more once our Spartan guest here regains consciousness” said Paarthurnax as Thane walked up to them both to deliver the news, “Our Spartan has only suffered from minor concussion and is disorientated from the journey here, which is normal” said Thane although something seemed to be bothering the doctor, “What I can’t explain is the amount of nanites currently swimming in his system. I’ve sent a sample over to Overwatch for further analysis” finished Thane before bowing and returning to his work.

“Jocasta, can you bring up the bloodwork Thane sent you on our Spartan friend?” asked Azrael in the command centre, Jocasta merely nodded before illuminating the main holo-field with the compiled data. Deciding best to investigate the findings in a more private manner, Azrael connected his biotic arm to the console and copying over the data. With the download complete, Azrael closed the files just in time for Paarthurnax and the recovered Mason to enter the command centre with Tarlak, Aryanna, Kaldür and Quartz following behind them.  
“Ah, there you are Azrael. We were about to call for you, but since you’re here we can get down to the business at hand” explained Paarthurnax as he turned his attention towards the assembled Defenders, “As you are all aware, the war between the Spartans and the Sangeili has been an ongoing struggle for quite some time. Only with the recent emergence of a splinter faction of Sangeili aiding the Spartans has the war been this close to ending however, there is reports of a new threat to Spartax Prime; which Paladin Keyes will explain in better detail” explained Paarthurnax before handing the floor over to Mason, “Thank you Director. While it is true that the splinter group has helped us get close to ending this war, the emergence of this new enemy threatens to not only plunge us farther into the war then we’ve ever been; but also threatens the entire Alliance” revealed Mason before placing a pad on the holo-field which illuminated the centre with various images and reports.  
“We call these creatures Prometheans” revealed Mason as he indicated to the strange robotic creatures in the images, “They started appearing little over a few months ago, we believe it has something to do with what happened on the planet Valérya but cannot confirm this theory at this time without more data. We sent a team to investigate an old outpost there, including your friend and my younger brother Johnson, but we have had no luck in raising them” There was a sombre silence in the room as Mason revealed more on the Prometheans, along with the mention of Johnson missing.  
“Which is why I have assembled you all here” piped up Paarthurnax as he gained the attention of everyone in the room, “Using the intel that Paladin Keyes has brought to our attention, your mission is to aid the Spartax Fleet in their fight against this new threat while also locating and rescuing Spartan Defender Johnson”

Couple of hours later and the group of Defenders were preparing to leave for Spartax Prime. Aryanna were already on the Ark prepping it for departure while Tarlak and Kaldür checked the fuel and Azrael was letting Evan and Tatso know the situation; leaving Quartz to tend to Mason.  
Quartz had really sprouted in his three years as a Defender, though still shorter than Azrael and Blake, he kept his brown hair at medium length and was still shaggy while he also showed signs of stubble coming in along his face. Quartz wore black combat trousers with yellow linings tucked into his knee-high boots with various straps, a dulled leather jacket that was zipped about a quarter of the way up, revealing the black skin-tight armour underneath, and the sleeves rolled half way up his forearms and fully gloved hands. Quartz also wore a headband mask combination that revealed his face, hair and ears but covered the rest.  
“You know that Johnson never really talked about his life on Spartax Prime, or you for that matter” said Quartz as he and Mason finished loading the Ark, Mason remained silent though Quartz did notice Mason stiffen slightly at the mention of Johnson. With everything in order, Azrael and the other bid farewell to the others as they boarded the Ark and began their trip to Spartax Prime.

“Since we’re going to Spartax Prime, Mason would you mind dealing clearance codes while we hold an emergency Defenders meeting?” asked Azrael to Mason, who agreed with a suspicious look on his face. While Mason entered the co-ordinates into the ship’s navigator, Azrael led the others away from the ship and into the main room of the ship away from Paladin Keyes, “While examining our friend over there, Thane came across something rather interesting in the blood sample he took” said Azrael as he revealed to the other the holographic image of the bloodwork showing the nanites. “Normally I’d say that they’re part of the Spartans genetic advancements, had I not seen Johnson’s bloodwork which has a different set of nanites” pondered Aryanna as she inspected the nanites using her medical knowledge from the Academy and helping Thane in the infirmary, “They could be a more advance version of Johnson’s nanites, so I suggest keeping this between us until we reach Spartax Prime” advised Kaldür, which seemed a unanimous thought agreement before returning to the bridge.

Planet: Unknown

Elsewhere on a barren looking planet with dark, ominous rain clouds with strange red lightning cackling in the distance, an eerie looking castle carved into the side of a cliff flashed into view from a nearby red lightning burst. Deep within this castle was a large room, lit by the wall of windows with various bookshelves lining the walls near a staircase the lead into another room. At the centre of the room, sat a large table with various people sat round it arguing, “Our attempt at taking Phobos from the Martian Royal Family has proven to be a waste of time and resources” spoke a man draped in a black cloak with a red patch covering his right eye.  
Various heads nodded at the man’s comment while other disagreed, “While I agree with you on the waste of time Ghetsis, the new soldiers and ally we gained out of it all, in my eyes, is a boon in our favour against the Alliance” argued back a silver haired man in a black, buttoned up tailcoat which sparked another row from other around the table. Suddenly the room at the end of the staircase burst open, and the entire room fell into a deathly silence as a lone figure emerged from the room and descended the steps.  
“While I can sympathise with Ghetsis about the loss of resources, Nightshade also bares fruit with his statement in that we gained powerful allies in exchange” said the figure as they came into the light, revealing themselves to be none other than Peylix Omega. “I have reason to believe that our Spartax plans have been set in motion correct?” question Peylix, gaining a silent nod from a masked man in a leather tailcoat. Pleased with the current outlook, Peylix continued his meeting with the other Cabal members when the main doors to the room swung open and in walked Dusk with another person following behind him.  
As Dusk stepped to the side, the person that came in with him was revealed to be Tarlak Markeed. Tarlak appeared to have reverted to his Martian form, albeit with some features altered as he was now a much darker, almost black, shade of green with red marking down the right half of his face like the markings on his Kurse form.  
“Ah, good to see that you have taken well to the medicine that was given to you Tarlak my friend” said Peylix as Tarlak walked over to the spare seat at the table. Tarlak’s attire was comprised of black combat trousers with red lines tucked into black boots and a long sleeved black jacket fully zipped up with red lining on the zipper area.  
“I truly appreciate all that you have done for my master Peylix and wish to repay such kindness with unyielding loyalty” said Tarlak as he bowed his head before Peylix, “While Tarlak was weak in his attempt at obtaining that which you seek, Kurse will not”

While the meeting between the Cabal members continued in the main library, Dusk took this moment as a means of finding more intel on his past along with anything he could ‘leak’ to the Alliance. Whilst listening to the drabble coming from Ghetsis’ mouth on the times of old, Peylix watched Dusk using his mind’s eye. Oh, he knew about Dusk’s ‘betrayal’ from day one, the only reason that he remained acting the fool was because he found it amusing to watch however all good things must end.  
“Anzu my boy, the time has come for Dusk to take an early retirement” instructed Peylix mentally to the Kronan who nodded from the far end of the room before slipping away undetected.  
Anzu’s attire consisted of dark blue trousers tucked into black knee high, armoured boots along with a black tailcoat with purple lining and purple arm gauntlets. His doubled bladed spear strapped to his back as he strode down the dimly light corridors towards Dusk’s location. 

Planet: Spartax Prime

The trip to Spartax Prime was much less hassle than the one to Phobos, mainly because no one was shooting at them and Aryanna wanted to keep it that way until they at least landed. Spartax Prime was riddled with various mountain ranges of different sizes, all jutting out from the mists that blanketed the surface of the planet. While flying amongst the mountains, two fighter ships suddenly appeared at either side of the Ark.  
“Unidentified Aircraft. This is Spartax Pilot Nate of the Spartax Defence Force, broadcast clearance codes or prepare to be shot down” said one of the pilots over the Ark’s comms, “This is Paladin Keyes of the Spartax Elite, transmitting clearance codes now pilot Nate” replied Mason on the comms before entering the clearance codes and waiting for response.  
“Clearance codes check out. Please follow us Paladin Keyes to Requim Base” radioed Nate before the right-side ship began turning right, indicating the Ark to follow them through the misty mountains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we've been introduced to more characters here along with returning faces, people are having some down time and Dusk seems to be in trouble. Just another day in the life I guess.


	8. Attack of the Prometheans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team have arrived at Spartax Prime in search of their comrade Johnson, only to find things to be not as they seem. With strange new enemies looming in this endless war, only time will tell if they discover Johnson's fate in time.

Planet: Spartax Prime  
Location: Chatka Pass

Requim Base was a very large structure embedded into a particularly tall mountain range, smaller bases littered the surrounding mountain tops with transport lines attaching them all together under Spartax Prime’s three different phased moons. The convoy lead the Ark into one of the smaller bases on the left where various ships, both Spartan and Sangeili, were docked and some departing no doubt for other bases located in other mountain ranges. As Paladin Keyes and the Defender team exited the Ark, two officers greeted them, the taller of the two a large reptilian-like creature with faded red armour while the human sized one wore dulled grey armour with similarly dulled blue shoulder guards and right arm.  
“Paladin Keyes sir, we welcome you to Requim Base” saluted the officer in grey while his large partner slammed his fist into his chest and bowed, “I am Captain Encho of the Spartax Alliance and this large fellow is called Va’dam, our liaison with the Sangeili Resistance. If you would all please follow us, there is much to discuss” explained Encho as he motioned Mason and the others to follow him and Va’dam. 

“How goes the efforts against the Prometheans?” asked Mason as the group boarded a platform connected to one of the transport lines. The platform shook as it released from the hanger before beginning its run to the main base, “I’ll be honest with you Paladin Keyes, our efforts at keeping the Prometheans at bay is barely putting a dent in their efforts. Each time they mount an assault, we loss more soldier to them then they us. It’s only a matter of time before the Warden takes us all” sighed Encho as he explained their dire situation.  
“Who’s this Warden that you mention?” asked Tarlak to the Captain, who returned with a haunted look on his face, “Not a who, more of a what. The Warden seems to be the one controlling these Prometheans that attack our base, a large white monstrosity that breaths fire and cuts down all resistance standing against it”  
As the platform docked into the main base, Encho and Va’dam ushered the group to follow them as they worked their way through various Spartan and Sangeili groups towards what was assumed to be the command deck.

The command deck was filled with various individuals, all rushing around the many monitors and barking orders and stats from one person to another. Up in the stand near the back of the room, stood a sharply dressed man in white barking orders while accepting documents from other officers.  
“Paladin-Elder Keyes, I have brought your son and the Inquisition members as per your instructions sir” spoke Encho to the man in white who turned to face the group, “Thank you Captain, you may return to your post, I will take matter from here personally. You are all dismissed” said Paladin-Elder Keyes as he stood, earning salutes from everyone in the room which he returned in kind, before leaving him with Mason and the Inquisition members.  
“As per introductions, I am Paladin-Elder Franklin Keyes and I would first like to thank you for returning my son to me safely” said Franklin as he reached out and shook Azrael’s hand with a small smile, which disappeared immediately as he got straight to business. “As I’m sure my son has already explained, we are facing a threat unlike any we have encountered before. It all began around the Valéryan Outpost, rumours of strange sightings paired with members of staff going missing quickly mounted into us investigating the Outpost. Johnson was the first to volunteer his services after returning from his duties as a Defender, this was all we managed to receive from his team” Franklin then proceeded to play a garbled audio message.  
“This is Lieutenant Johnson of the Spartax Alliance, requesting emergency backup on the Valéryan Outpost. The rumours appear to be true; the Prometheans exists, repeat Promethea has awoken” there was a thick silence in the room as the audio was played, though it could be seen that Azrael, Aryanna and Tarlak stiffened at the distress in Johnson’s normal calm and carefree voice.  
“When we received this audio Mason and a squad of Spartans were dispatched to the Outpost as reinforcements however all they could find regarding Johnson and his teams were smashed helmets, signs of struggle and these” said Franklin as he produced two red tonfas; Johnson’s Titan weapon. Aryanna reached out for the Tonfas but was stopped by Franklin holding them tight against his chest, “I know that you want to have a connection with Johnson, but you know as well as us that he would entrust us keepers more than anyone” reasoned Aryanna as she held out her hand. Franklin seemed to be in turmoil but relented to logic in the end and passed the Tonfas into Aryanna’s care.

The minute the Tonfa were placed in Aryanna’s care, an alarm suddenly began blaring throughout the base as a distant rumble could be felt, coupled by a distant boom. Deciding to investigate, Mason led the Defenders from the command deck towards the bay that has black smoke rising from it.  
Outside the attacked bay, hovered strange silver ships with glowing orange lines orbiting parts being held with orange energy. Azrael and the others worked immediately to help clear the wounded from the combat zone while other Spartan and Sangeili soldiers attempted to shoot down the ships with no effect. Mason open his mouth to bark orders at the soldiers, when one of the ships surged with orange energy; and released it in quickfire bursts. The energy blasted back the assaulting troops while also leaving small craters, but ultimately leaving everyone alive; then the ships swiveled, and a large beam descended from them onto the ground below.  
Emerging from the beams of light, emerged robotic creatures similar in colour to the hovering ships above; metallic pieces were stationed around the creatures as if they had an orbit about them as they marched out of the light. As the creatures advanced, they raised their right arms which split apart before reforming into what resembled blasters; and began to fire.

“All troops fall back to where it’s safe” bellowed Mason as Azrael summoned a dome shield as the troops attempted to return fire, with only their blasts deflecting of the robot’s armour or going between gaps in the bodywork.  
“Shield won’t last very long against these barrage attacks” informed a strained Azrael as cracks began to appear in the surrounding shield, which Azrael pooled more energy into. It was then that the advancing creatures ceased their fire, much to everyone’s confusion, and stepped to the side for a much larger creature. The larger creature was completely made up of white and black armour, with four fins protruding from the upper and lower regions on its back as it stomped down the line of smaller robots. The creatures face was shaped like a menacing skull with orange energy glowing behind it along with where the limbs were meant to be connected.  
“I am Warden Eternal” spoke the large creature with a hollow sounding voice as it addressed the remaining Spartax troops, “The Promethean Queen would request an audience with the one called Mason Keyes, surrender him to us and we shall leave this base unharmed; refuse at your own demise” A red disk shot into the Warden’s hand, only for it to expand into a red, double bladed weapon the slowly spun in his hand, “Either way he will be coming with us”  
“Don’t even think about it” whispered Aryanna to Mason, who was preparing to make it way over to the Warden. Touching her palms against her upper arms, red markings appeared on Aryanna’s arms as bladed whips emerged from her wrists. Nodding in agreement, Azrael left his staff standing at the centre of the shield while slowly reached for the black and red hilt of one of the swords on his back before temporarily dropping the shield as he and Aryanna charged the Warden.

As Azrael unsheathed the sword, purple flames suddenly covered him as strange armour began to appear on his body. His biotic arm was now completely uncovered, with the upper arm shaded black with three small, red sharp objects protruding from his shoulder and two on either side of his elbow. A grey headpiece surrounded his face with two side pieces on both side of his face and a three-piece crown attaching the two together going over his forehead while his facial markings expanded into a red cross formation and his eyes went black with his blue eye turning a golden yellow. White, bone-like armour appeared where Azrael’s armour was on his shoulders as well as a multi-crossed arm guard with red scales on his right arm.  
Aryanna straightened her fingers together on her right hand, prompting the bladed whip coming out of it to compress into a short length blade before leaping into the air and thrusting the blade forward.  
The Warden was quick to react by holding up his double-bladed weapon, he stopped both Azrael and Aryanna’s advancing attacks. “I guess this means a more difficult approach is required” sighed the Warden as his blades began to spin, forcing Azrael and Aryanna to back away from him. Flipping whilst in mid-air, Aryanna brought down her other bladed whip which shot out multiple red energised projectiles at the Warden who brought up his sword and spun it in his hand, sending the projectiles off in different directions. Whilst the Warden was busy deflecting Aryanna’s projectiles, Azrael took this opportunity to flank the Warden with a ranged attack of his own.  
“Eruca Exspiravit” said Azrael, and from his hand exploded purple ghost-like projectiles in wide arches towards the Warden. Too busy with Aryanna’s projectiles, the Warden was unable to deflect Azrael’s pincer movement as the ghostly projectiles hit their mark in an explosion of purple gas.

As the smoke cleared, Aryanna and Azrael prepared for an encore only to find a hole where the Warden was originally, “I don’t like this one bit, feels too easy” said Azrael as he and Aryanna cautiously scanned the area for any signs of the missing Warden. Suddenly the ground below then rumbled as the Warden’s sword burst up between them, giving the Warden a window to separate the duo which he done by grabbing Aryanna and throwing her like a sack of potatoes across the field towards the shielded survivors.  
“While your resistance would normally impress, I find myself on a tight schedule so must demand you hand over Mason Keyes” droned on the Warden as he slowly spun his double sword while advancing on the survivors. While the other Defenders helped Aryanna to her feet, Azrael rushed up from behind the Warden and leapt into the air to land a downward strike with Muramasa; only to have his strike blocked by the Warden’s blade. Taking his right hand off Muramasa, Azrael’s hand glowed with dark purple energy which formed a tantō version of Muramasa before thrusting it into a gap in the Warden’s armour expecting to hit something like circuits or bone; instead the attack went straight through.  
“I must tell you that I find that quite insulting” said the Warden as it stared at the protruding blade before pushing Azrael towards the edge of the deck. Azrael stumbled back from the sudden push and attempted to retaliate with a flurry or strikes; each one blocked by the Warden with ease as he back Azrael into a corner. 

The Warden rose his sword in his final strike and was about to bring it down, when something latched onto the end which the Warden investigated, only to have energy bursts connect with his face. Turns out Kaldür was using his Water-Bearers to latch water onto the sword while Tarlak froze the water in place and Quartz was bombarding the Warden with energy.   
“Laminae Barrage” said Aryanna as she made a cross formation with her bladed whips and sent a large amount of red energised projectiles which combined with Quartz’s attacks hit their mark, “I’ll keep providing ranged support, the rest of you help Azrael” said Quartz as he unleashed another volley of red energy, briefly extending the window for the others to advance.  
Aryanna once again compressed her bladed whips into small wrist blades while Tarlak unsheathed Bifrost, his great sword, and Kaldür created a cutlass with one of his Water-Bearers while also creating a launching platform for Aryanna. The Warden blocked Aryanna’s leaping attack with his blade while catching Bifrost in his spare hand and letting Kaldür’s blow hit, which done no damage at all before all leaping to the side, leaving the Warden momentarily confused.  
“Pugni a mundi artifice fabricatum” said Azrael from above the Warden as two large, interconnected fists of blue Titanforce came crashing down on top of it. The Defenders didn’t receive much in the way of breathing room, as the Warden crawled out of the fist-shaped crater with next to no damage on its armoured body. As one, the Defenders charged the Warden with Aryanna started with a leaping slash while Azrael was launched over the Warden by Kaldür to flank it. 

“Paladin Keyes!” yelled one of the officers as Azrael suddenly fell to his knees in exhaustion and Quartz was knocked unconscious from behind, making the other Defenders realise the Warden’s true intentions; he had worn Azrael down enough for the other Prometheans to break the barrier protecting the Spartans from the fight and nab Mason, “You were warned that we would be taking him regardless” said the Warden while continuing to deflect Kaldür and Tarlak at the same time, giving Aryanna time to inspect Azrael however she never made it as the Warden sudden shot a beam of orange energy from his face plate, knocking them away as it advanced on Azrael.  
“I honest don’t see why the Promethean Queen is so afraid of you, however my orders are clear in that you shall not interfere with our operations Azrael of Gallifrey” said the Warden as it picked Azrael up by his head and dragged him towards the edge of the platform. As the Warden neared the edge, it suddenly found itself restrained by something on its free arm. Turning to investigate, the Warden was slightly surprised to find not only all the Defenders still conscious, but also restraining him with her current injuries, “There may be some use for you after all” commented the Warden before sending a shockwave down Aryanna’s whip which managed to finally knock her out. Content that the conscious Defenders left were in no position to mount anymore resistance, the Warden continued to drag Azrael to the edge where he dangled the exhausted Defender above a seemingly endless pit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been ages since I've last updated this and I'd like to apologise for the length of time >.<  
> Things have been busy with moving to a new place and settling while also working but now that the settling is almost complete, can finally attempt to keep peeps satisfied with more chapters!!!


	9. The Spartan Retribution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mason has been taken by the Prometheans and Azrael has gone missing after their encounter with the mysterious Warden Eternal. This leaves Aryanna and the other to help the Spartans in the coming storm, but are they enough to fend off the Promethean Hive?

Planet: Spartax Prime  
Location: Requim Base Infirmary

The last thing Aryanna could recall was a large white robot wanting someone and she and Azrael stepped in to fight the robot. It was then that it all returned to her as she shot up gasping for air, “Oh thank the nine you are awake” sighed a voice to Aryanna’s right; she turned to find a bandaged Tarlak sitting next to her with an equally banged up Kaldür standing behind him and Quartz taking up the bed next to her, still unconscious.  
“What happened, the last thing I remember was-” questioned Aryanna before realising something was off, “Wait. Where’s Azrael?” When neither Tarlak or Kaldür met her gaze, Aryanna held minor confusion until the last piece of her memory returned; Azrael being held over the edge of the platform by the Warden and then everything going black. “They’re still looking for him I’m afraid, however the Prometheans captured Paladin Keyes meaning the Paladin-Elder’s attention is elsewhere at the moment” informed Kaldür silently as the three fell into a remorseful silence. 

The entire base was in more anarchy than when they had first arrived, Aryanna noticed as the three Defenders weaved their way to the command deck to have words with the Paladin-Elder. The command deck fell into total silence for the first time as Aryanna and the other Defenders marched towards the Paladin-Elder’s post with a vengeful look in their eyes, “I know what you are going to say Defender Rosé so let me cut to the point” sighed Franklin as he brought up a video feed on one of the screens.  
“Our scouts sent us this footage roughly two hours prior” said Franklin showing a feed of large Sangeili ships, “They appear to be heading in our direction and are roughly 10 klicks out and while I’d me more than willing to assist in searching for Defender Draak and my son, my duties as Paladin-Elder must come first above all else” With nothing more to say, Franklin signalled for the Defenders to be escorted from the command deck whilst he returned to his duties.

They returned to the infirmary wing to bring a now conscious Quartz up to speed on current events and to come up with a battle plan. While they were in the infirmary, the team were joined by a few of the soldiers that they saved on the platform who wished to join them on finding Azrael and Mason. The plan was coming along smoothly when the base suddenly shook, and the lights momentarily flickered off, this was followed by a deep booming from outside the base which had everyone rushing outside. Once outside, they were met with a large Promethean ship hovering overhead with smaller fighters descending while what looked like Sangeili ships in the distance being shot down with ease.

Everyone was on high alert as Prometheans pooled out of the descending ships by the shed load, except this time they stood to attention in lines of two with a figure walking down between them. The person wore dark grey suit with patches of black armour on the arms and legs with blue edges and visor that glowed along with an olive scarf draped over its shoulders and a cylinder-shaped tube on its back.  
Aryanna was about to take charge in confronting this figure when the Paladin-Elder beat her to it, “Just who in the hell do you think you are invading Spartan air space!?” boomed the Paladin-Elder in anger as Aryanna and the other Defenders appeared behind him. The figure remained silent as it focused on the Paladin-Elder for a moment before turning its attention to the assembled group.  
“Spartans and Sangeili of Requim Base, I come before you as a representative of the Promethean Queen. You have all seen first-hand what we, the Prometheans, are capable of and would like to offer that power to you in your fight with the Sangeili Hoards” spoke the figure in a deep, robotic sounding voice. Muttering broke out amongst the assemble bunch over the offer this person was offering them, “Simply pledge yourselves over into our great hive and never again will you feel pain, remorse or exhaustion as we take our conquest out into the stars above” 

This caused a burst of enraged shouts from Spartan and Sangeili alike, each one either a curse towards the Prometheans or a form of repute towards the so-called offer. A hissing of air could be heard as the figure’s helmet began to shift and unlock before it vanished in similar fashion to Azrael’s face mask; to reveal the face of Mason Keyes.  
“I never wanted the rumours to be true Mason, your recent behaviour towards our war efforts ever since you returned from the Valéryan Outpost” said Franklin as he slowly stepped towards Mason who look at his father with a bored expression.  
“You should feel pride for your son Paladin-Elder, for it was he who found me and my children and brought us back into the light of the world” spoke a female voice from behind Mason who stepped aside to reveal the origin of the voice.  
Alongside the Warden Eternal stood a sleek woman shaped robotic humanoid, roughly half the height of the Warden. She had a grey armoured chest piece with black bagged legs and bagged arms similarly colour to her chest piece. Six thin grey objects floated behind her, three on either side of her, and four smaller ones made up a crown-like piece atop her blue glowing head, similar to Jocasta’s. Aryanna deduced that she must be the Promethean Queen given the way the others bowed to her as well as her posture.  
“We saved your son from the oppression of war, and in return has been our eyes and ears in the outside world with unparalleled effectiveness” spoke the Promethean Queen, earning a respective bow from Mason, “But now the hour of conquest draws near, soon we will be powerful enough to take on the like of the Cabal and even the Alliance” boasted the Queen, earning more mumbles from the people present than ever before. 

The mutterings were silenced when the Paladin-Elder slowly began advancing towards Mason, his face blank from the processing information meaning no one could predict his intentions. He stood in front of Mason, intentions completely blank until he suddenly raised his hand and slapped Mason across the face.  
“If your mother and brother could see how far you have fallen, I’m pretty sure that they’d be ashamed of the man they once considered their hero” said Franklin in a deathly-clam tone which sent shivers down Aryanna’s spine before turning to face the Promethean Queen, “And in regards to you ‘offer’ we have a counter-deal; surrender over the men and woman that you have abducted and leave this planet while you still can” The Promethean Queen was silent after the Paladin-Elder had made his statement known, and quite frankly she was expecting as such as she turned her back to him and signalled the Warden.  
“Disappointing to hear and yet not entirely useable given your nature as non-hived beings” sighed the Promethean Queen as the Warden advanced with his double sword forming in his hand, only for Aryanna and the other Defenders to sudden come between the Warden and the Paladin-Elder, “We ain’t letting someone as bold talking as you to get away missy. Not when we have questions in regard to our missing friends” said Quartz as Aryanna cracked her bladed whip on the ground, Kaldür formed a large cutlass with his water-bearer and Tarlak rested his hand on Bifrost’s hilt.

“This is pointless, grab the old man so that we can get on with it” said Mason suddenly as he stepped in between the Warden and the Defenders with the cylinder object that was on his back now in hand. The cylinder extended out into a staff, with one side appeared to look like a reverse Sangeili Energy Blade. The Defenders tried to help the Paladin-Elder against his traitorous son but were instead blocked by the Warden, who held them at bay until Mason was successful in incapacitating the Paladin-Elder.  
“You all have one day to surrender willingly to the hive, else you will be forcefully taken into our ranks or eliminated. To the Inquisition members present, we have someone anxious to meet you” and before Aryanna could press for enlightenment, Mason and the Prometheans disappeared in a shimmering light as the smaller ships returned to the looming dreadnaught.

Couple of hours had passed since the Paladin-Elder was abducted and Mason, the now former Paladin, had made his demand known, “You saw what they done to that Sangeili fleet, we don’t stand a chance against them” proclaimed a Spartan while other nodded in agreement and added more negative connotations to the current predicament. For the first time in a while, Aryanna had nothing to help the current situation, turning seemingly hopeless moments around was normally Azrael’s job; but he wasn’t here which meant she had to do something.  
“This fighting will get us nowhere!” boomed Tarlak which gained the attention of the room, “Yes they have superior firepower, and they believe that their hive mind is un-paralleled which given us a dwarf’s toe” the other Defenders groaned at Tarlak’s botching of the ‘Alkalis Heel’ saying but where surprised that the room understood.  
While listening to Tarlak and the others coming up with a sound plan, Aryanna found herself worrying about their missing friends Azrael and Johnson and hoped that they were safe wherever they were.

The room was dark, save for the dim light coming from the floor lights at the bottom of the cell and the natural light shining down on the lone inhabitant of the room, battered and bruised with one arm missing and the other chained to the far wall. A faint humming could be heard as the room’s door was unlocked and the Warden walked in with a tray of scraped food.  
“The Queen is impressed by your resistance to the nanites we have implanted within you, but we know that it’s only a matter of time before the convert you” said the Warden glancing behind him towards a camera sat in the top corner of the room, “Well then I guess I should thank my lucky stars that you’ve been giving me the wrong kind” spoke a voice inside the Warden’s head.  
“Consider it thanks for saving me from her Azrael” mentally replied the Warden as he placed the tray down in front of the now identified Azrael as the Warden remembered what’d happened;

_“There may be some use for you after all” commented the Warden before sending a shockwave down Aryanna’s whip which managed to finally knock her out. Content that the conscious Defenders left were in no position to mount anymore resistance, the Warden continued to drag Azrael to the edge where he dangled the exhausted Defender above a seemingly endless pit._  
“This is where your story ends I’m afraid” said the Warden, laxing his grip of Azrael who began to fall; only for him to suddenly change into a Promethean soldier. Hearing someone running behind him, the Warden turned ready to fire his optic blast, only to have a bionic hand slam into his face. The arm was destroyed in the blast, however the backfire from it broke a piece of the Warden’s face off, leaving a small hole which Azrael took advantage by driving his Titanforce coated hand into.  
When Azrael’s fist collided with something, he suddenly felt a familiar presence in the back of his mind; one he hadn’t felt for several years which made him leap back from the Warden. The Warden also seemed to be affected by the sensation as it shook its head back and forth before in confusion, “That really you Azrael?” asked the Warden, surprising Azrael as the sensation kicked in again, overloading him with thoughts and making him pass out. __

__After the brawl, Azrael had awoken to being chained in the very room he now sat in with only the mystery of the Warden to keep him occupied. The Warden had obviously been equally confused as he continued to visit Azrael under the guise of interrogation.  
“Take it they haven’t realised that your inhibiter has been damaged and still think your one of them?” asked Azrael mentally as he ate the food provided to him. When the Warden signalled that they hadn’t Azrael sighed in relief, “That’s good to hear. We lost you once and we sure as ain't loosing you again; Johnson”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was originally planning on revealing identities a bit later on, but you gotta take opportunities when you can and only hope that this one pays off. Getting close to the climax of this arc and I've got heaps of plans for the next one so stay tuned :3


	10. Dawn of the Conquest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Paladin-Elder taken and the deadline coming ever closer, Aryanna and the others decide to turn themselves over to the Promethean Hive. Will it be enough to stop Promethea and her conquest and what of Azrael and Johnson?

Planet: Spartax Prime  
Location: Requim Base 

One day has passed since the abduction of Paladin-Elder Keyes and the betrayal of Paladin Keyes to the Promethean Hive, in that space of time the joined might of the Spartans, Sangeili Resistance and Inquisition members had tried to formulate a plan of attack. However, they were out of time as Aryanna and the other Inquisition members and select number of Spartan and Sangeili representatives boarded the Ark to disembark to the looming Promethean Dreadnaught.  
“You know the contingency should this go south” explained Quartz to Encho who nodded in silent agreement before offering them a salute as they took off for the Dreadnaught above.

Location: Promethean Dreadnaught

While the others were heading the Dreadnaught’s way, Johnson and Azrael had their own little plan which they were about to execute. With most of the hive being focused on the arriving ship, Johnson was able to use his link to establish a safe route for him and Azrael to their destination.  
“We only have a small opening to get your gear and disable the hive central node at the heart of the ship” explained Johnson as he ‘shoved’ Azrael towards the labs. Once inside and confident that they were the only ones within the lab, Johnson got to work finding what they were there for in the first place; a replacement arm for Azrael.  
“This lab is where most Promethean parts are made, since they’re a hive A.I. a body to them is just like an item of clothing so they’re constantly creating more advanced versions of themselves” explained Johnson as he looked through all the versions of Promethean armour. 

Location: Dreadnaught Landing Site

The entire Dreadnaught was alive with activity, and yet Aryanna and the others could sense something off within the Dreadnaught; a lack of soul. They could already make out the former Paladin coming out to greet them was an escort of Prometheans trailing behind him like zombies.  
“Ah honoured guests, we welcome you aboard our vessel” said Mason with his arms out wide and a vast smile on his face, “I also speak for our Queen in saying thanks are in order for choosing the correct option, the gift of the Inquisition members is unnecessary but welcomed all the same” Aryanna’s eye twitched slightly at the remark but held her tongue till the time was right. Mason and the Prometheans escorted the group from the hanger and deeper into the belly of the beast.

As they went deeper into the ship, Aryanna and the others felt the lack of soul increase with every step and each soldier they past. Despite all the corridors looking the same Mason seemed to know where he was heading, as the group suddenly found themselves in a large chamber. The chamber reminded Aryanna and Tarlak of the Pyramidion Throne Room back on Phobos, only this one had glass floors which had a clear view of Requim Base below and three large screens showing a language that Aryanna simply could not understand, despite being Gallifreyan who could understand all languages.  
“I see that you have brought me our guests my dear Mason, I thank you and ask that you retrieve the prisoners and Warden Eternal. I wish for them to be present when the hour arrives” spoke the Promethean Queen as she turned in her throne away from the screens and focused on Aryanna and the others. Nodding in silence, Mason backed out of the room with all Prometheans leaving as one until the only people in the room were the Queen and the group.  
“Alone at last” sighed the Queen as she rose from her throne to descend the steps toward the group how seemed on edge, “Have no fear, I would never dream of damaging Peylix’s precious Relics of Susion” with the mention of Peylix, the Inquisition members instantly drew their weapons, halting the Queen who simply sighed deeply at the display. A blue rune circle appeared on her right hand as Aryanna and the others suddenly found themselves without any of their weapons, “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, my name is Queen Promethea and I welcome you all into the Promethean Hive”

Elsewhere…

“Ugh, I know that new bionics always feel weird, but this one takes the whole damned cake” grumbled Azrael quietly as he wrapped his new arm in bandages that happen to be laying around. Whilst looking through the various Promethean armours, Johnson had stumbled upon a prototype armour that changed size and shape and seemed to be able to pass as an organic limb, “Tell me about it, when you managed to damage the inhibitor in this can, it felt like I was someone else” replied Johnson as he cleaned up the lab, Azrael winced slightly at the comment due to him partially being responsible for his friend feeling that way.  
“I know that look in your eye, don’t think for a second that you should apologise for this” scolded Johnson before sighing and patting Azrael’s shoulder. He was about to say more when his communicator suddenly started beeping which meant that someone was trying to reach him. “Warden, you are to report to the Throne Room with the prisoner immediately as per orders from Promethea” reported Mason on the other end. Crap, Azrael had almost forgotten that Johnson’s brother was a traitor to the Promethean Hive on top of him now effectively being an A.I.  
“Understood, I’ll have the prisoner brought there at once” replied Johnson in his Warden persona, sending shivers down Azrael’s spine at how soulless he just sounded. Content with the answer, Mason ended the communication as Johnson was finally able to release the pent-up emotions he was feeling in the form of a very long sigh.  
“Come on we’ve got a show to put on for ‘Queeny’ and the others” said Johnson as he escorted Azrael out of the lab and made their way to the throne room.

Location: Dreadnaught Throne Room

The Inquisition group were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the prisoners and the dreaded Warden Eternal. Promethea had spoken very little since Mason left to fetch the Warden and the prisoners, Aryanna assumed that one of them would be the Paladin-Elder, but she was still in debate on who the second was, possibly Johnson but there had been no sign of him since they arrived which didn’t sit well with her and the other Inquisition members. The agonising silence was broken by the sudden appearance of Mason and the Paladin-Elder who seemed unharmed; if banged up slightly from the small skirmish the occurred during his kidnapping.  
“All that remains is the Warden and the other prisoner then we can proceed” informed Mason to Promethea who nodded before turning away from the captives to look down at Requim Base. “Where is my son Promethean?” demanded the Paladin-Elder his voice croaky, no doubt from lack of hydration but still held some strength in it as he glared at Promethea’s back, “My boy has been missing ever since he and his team went out to the Valéryan Outpost but now I know better. You’d better not of harmed him or I swear on the graves of those you defile that I will rain fiery justice upon you all” while making his speech, Franklin and the other failed to notice the Warden and other Prometheans enter the room with the other prisoner with a bag on their head.

“As I’m sure you are painfully aware, we Prometheans are of a cybernetically-hived species, like the Cyberiad and yet more advanced, we add our concurred to our ranks and you ‘search party’ to the Valéryan Outpost was no acceptation” commented Promethea with her back still to Franklin, whose face started to loose some of it colour. Motioning towards the Prometheans that escorted the Warden in to come to her side, Promethea finally turned to face the others.  
“These very Prometheans are all that remain of the search party you sent to the Valéryan Outpost. Their fear of death was the last thing any of them felt before we stripped them of all emotions and elevated them into our glorious Hive” proclaimed Promethea as she spread her arms out as if she was some angelic being about to ascend. Aryanna was disgusted by the apparent joy Promethea took in all of this, yet she couldn’t help but worry for Johnson; given he was on that same team.  
“What of Johnson?” asked Aryanna knowing full well that Franklin was dreading to ask the same question, no doubt from fear of loosing another family member to this accursed war, “Well for someone as special as the brother of our saviour as well as one of the nine relic bearers; I thought it best that Johnson received a special spot in the hive” revealed Promethea as the Warden walked up in front of her before turning to face the captives. Franklin seemed about ready to have a heart attack from all that was coming to light, he had lost his wife to a Sangeili ambush, his eldest son was a traitor that took his youngest son away from him; that was until he caught what appeared a wink from the Warden.

Suddenly the Warden activated its double blade and with a single strike, beheaded the Promethean soldier present whilst missing Promethea by about an inch.  
“This cannot be, no one has ever managed to escape the Hive! How the hell did you manage this!?” demanded Promethea as she backed her way up the stairs which earned a small laugh from the Warden, “Truth be told, I would still be apart of your damned Hive if it weren’t from me friend Azrael. He saved me by damaging the inhibitor you placed on what was left of me after you ‘converting’ process. Now I’m gonna make you pay for every single being you’ve put under the same pain as I’ve endured” said Johnson as he slowly spun his blade while advancing on Promethea; only to have Mason come between them with his energy axe primed.

“Must admit that I was initially jealous that it was you who was chosen to become her Warden and not myself, I never understood what she saw in you that I didn’t possess” said Mason as he and Johnson began to slowly circle one another in a battle of siblings. “All Promethean soldiers converge on the throne room immediately. Defender your Queen” order Promethea to the room in general, no doubt using the hive mind as a mean of communication. Aryanna and the others braced for the impending load of hurt coming their way, only to discover that no Prometheans were heading their way. Confused by the fact that her order was ignored, Promethea pulled up surveillance across the Dreadnaught; only to find the Prometheans to be standing completely still.  
“Looks like our plans working for the most part” commented Johnson toward the still Prometheans on the screen, “you said it yourself, Hive mind is a massive Alkalis Heel when exploited right” said the hooded prisoner who got to their feet and snapped the chains from their wrists to remove the hood; revealing the face of Azrael.  
Helping the others with their confines, Azrael suddenly found himself crushed under another infamous Tarlak hug, “My friend you are not a cake of the pan, we feared the worse when you were absent from our initial clash with Warden Johnson” cried Tarlak as Azrael’s face started turning a tad blue. Azrael eventually managed to slip out of Tarlak’s hug, only to have Aryanna slam her fist into his head, “I swear to High Hrothgar, you were put into this universe to give me heart attacks” scolded Aryanna, she would have hugged him; had their moment not been interrupted by a pillar of purple flames shoot out from where the throne was.

From the pillar of fire, emerged very familiar looking orange droids with red eyes and their weapons poised on the Inquisition members, Mason and the Paladin-Elder. “What’re Cabal Droids doing here?” questioned Quartz aloud when a tall figure began to emerge from the flames. The reaction from the Inquisition members towards the figure in the flames was a unanimous look of anger and cold fury; as none other than the Ivory Knight Anzu appeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you never saw that ending coming :P Been a while since I done this many frequent updates, but you know what you gotta do when you get dat inspiration streak :3 Gonna try and wrap this arc up in the next chapter for real this time so stay tuned for the conclusion


	11. Fall of The Promethean Hive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The odds seemed to be stacking against the Inquisition what with the sudden appearance of the Ivory Knight. Can they get out of this scrap, or will they be succumbed to the Promethean Hive

Planet: Spartax Prime  
Location: Dreadnaught Throne Room 

The room remained silent as Anzu slowly descended the steps towards Promethea. Johnson and Mason had ceased their sibling brawl, no doubt from the killer intent rolling off Anzu. The Kronan Prince halted next to Promethea and scanned the current situation of the room, “It would seem that my timing was well place hive queen” said Anzu as he landed eyes upon Aryanna along with the other Inquisition members.  
“This visit of yours is most surprising my lord. Had I known you were coming-” Promethea never did get to finish her grovelling; as she suddenly found herself staring in shock at Anzu’s arm protruding from her chest. “Did you honestly believe you could keep the secret of the Inferno Relic Bearer from Lord Peylix?” whispered Anzu into Promethea’s ear before forcing his arm farther into her gut, earning what sounded like a pained gasp from Promethea before brutally yanking his fist out and letting the body drop down the steps.  
“I’ll give you credit where it is due for capturing him and for being a resilient species” commented Anzu as he stared down at the object in his blooded hand; a small black box pulsing with white energy, “However that still doesn’t excuse what you did” Anzu then applied some pressure to the box until to crumbling within his hand.

“My lady no!” yelled Mason as he leapt from his spot to charge Anzu in a blind fury. He aimed to bring his axe down hard on Anzu; only to be blocked by his glaive followed by being pushed back by a focused blast of wind pressure. Mason attempted to raise to his feet and commence another attack, when Azrael shot past in a bright glow with a white sword drawn and clashed with Anzu’s glaive. As the glow around Azrael dimmed, it revealed a dull white chest piece with dark blue markings with pointed pauldrons of a similar shade of blue over his jacket and a red scarf draped over his mouth. The markings on his face changed into a yellow cross over his facial features connecting at the tip of his nose while his leather boots were now covered by pointed sabatons with a black tattered waist cape the came down to the back of his knees.   
“You guys deal with Mason and the Cabal Droids, me and Anzu here have a few things to catch up on” said Azrael as he pushed Pendragon against Anzu, forcing the two to fall through one of the floor windows which left Aryanna and the others to fend off Mason and the Cabal Droids.

“Looks like you’ve managed to become more proficient with your Relics Azrael” commented Anzu as the two clashed throughout the Dreadnaught. Azrael responded by hooking his free hand into the scarf that covered his face before pulling down to release a plume of fire at Anzu; who stopped the fire attack by spinning his glaive.  
“I see that you are still an insufferable snob” commented Azrael from his porch in the rafters about before leaping into the air and bringing a downward slash at Anzu, resulting in another spray of sparks as the two continued their dance of blades.

When Anzu had crushed the small box, he got from Promethea’s chest, the weapons that she ‘confiscated’ with her magic were returned to their respectful owner who quickly drew them as the Cabal Droids surrounded them on all sides. Franklin still seemed to be quite out of it while Johnson and Mason were busy continuing their sibling spout; leaving the remaining Inquisition members to clean up the Droids.   
“Loser has to get the other food for a week?” wagered Kaldür to Tarlak as they eyed up the competition, earning a hearty laugh from Tarlak as he charged forward and began splitting Droids in two with Bifrost, “I accept your challenge young Kaldür, know that you will be one that who shale lose sorely”   
Aryanna sighed at the deal as she sank her bladed whip into one Droid after another while keeping an eye on how Johnson was faring against his elder sibling. Aryanna knew full well that Mason was more adept than Johnson in fighting; especially since Johnson had yet to get use to his new body but she had every faith that Johnson would win.

Johnson was thinking the exact same thing as Aryanna; Mason was a much better fighter and this body still felt wrong. Johnson barely had time to react as Mason brought his energy axe crashing down on top of him, “I don’t see why you would reject such a calling as serving Promethea” said Mason after knocking Johnson on his back, finding this fight to be rather pitiful and not worth his time, “I guess she was wrong in choosing her Warden, fortunately I won’t make the same mistake” Mason brought the axe up high and prepared to bring it crashing on Johnson’s face, who closed his eyes awaiting the strike; only it never happened. Daring to sneak a peek, Johnson was almost surprised to see a bladed whip wrapped round Mason’s axe, who was having trouble wrestling it away from Aryanna.  
“Don’t just sit there gawking damn it. You’re a Spartan and a Defender so start acting like one Johnson” scolded Aryanna with strain lacing her voice from the wrestle with Mason. Aryanna’s words seemed to have done the trick as Johnson slowly rose to his feet before rushing forward at Mason; who had little time to block the incoming swing. The tables were turning on Mason, Johnson was gaining the upper hand with the help of Aryanna keeping Mason off-balance until Johnson was able to hook his blade into the axe and send the weapon spiralling in the air away from Mason.

Anzu had to admit that he was glad to be fighting again, his duties to the Cabal had left little room for the warrior prince to actually do some combat. That fact that he was fighting against Azrael of all people only made it all the sweeter, “you have no idea how much I’ve missed this” said Anzu with obvious glee in his voice as he blocked another one of Azrael’s attacks.   
“Laminae Barenziah” said Azrael as he attacked Anzu with a familiar spell as blades of light barraged against Anzu and his spinning glaive. Using the blades as a cover, Azrael ducked round Anzu’s defence and aimed to slash him across the back; only to have Anzu suddenly dodge the attack without looking and disappear in a flash with Azrael hot on his heels.  
“The master shall be pleased with your progress Azrael” commented Anzu while he and Azrael continued to exchange blows atop the Dreadnaught, wind whipping at their hair as spark continued to fly. “As much as I’d love to continue this little spar of ours, schedules must be kept, and dusk is beckoning I answer” said Anzu enigmatically before moving to the side to dodge Azrael’s slash and bringing his elbow down hard on Azrael’s back.

The skylight suddenly shattered above the small group as Azrael fell into the throne room, panting from his brief fight with Anzu across the ship while Anzu landed with grace. “You will pay for you treachery against my lady monster” huffed Mason, completely ignoring Johnson and the others as he charged Anzu with nothing more than his fist raised. Sighing at the display, Anzu raised a single finger which shot out a small beam of purple energy, the beam pierced Mason’s shoulder as he dropped to his knees eyes wide in pain.  
“Now that my business here has been concluded I shall take my leave” said Anzu as he stared at the corpse of Promethea but not before blocking Azrael’s fist and retaliating with one of his own, “This won’t be our last dance I can promise that much, however there are other matters that require my attention” As Anzu turned to leave, Johnson quickly leap into the air in attempts of slashing the Ivory Knight down the middle only to have his blade caught in Anzu’s right hand while his left rested on Johnson’s chest piece.  
“If you weren’t so important to our plans I’d have obliterated you for much less” threatened Anzu before glancing in Aryanna’s direction and proceeded to sigh before releasing a large blast of dark energy; straight through Johnson’s chest piece. Aryanna, Quartz and Tarlak were quick to leap into action against the departing Anzu while Azrael and Kaldür got to work trying to save Johnson, “You’re wasting your time, just remove my matrix from this chassis” wheezed Johnson as he tapped on the headpiece; the spot where Azrael’s fist at broken through earlier.   
“Till next time” called Anzu before becoming enclosed in a swirling black tornado that Aryanna and the others shot right through to reveal Anzu had teleported off, all that remained was a black raven-like feather and a piece of what seemed to be a red blade.

Location: Requim Base

Everyone waited in baited breath as the Ark began its landing procedure on the main landing platform. The base had been put on alert ever since smoke start coming out of the looming Dreadnaught as from the Ark emerged Aryanna and those who left for the Dreadnaught along with the Paladin-Elder, Mason in cuffs and Azrael who appeared to be holding a black box in his hand.  
“Thank the stars that your unharmed sir” said Encho as he raced to the Paladin-Elder’s side, though Franklin didn’t seem to be all there. Looking round for an explanation, those present noticed that everyone who came off the Ark seemed to have similar looks in their eyes; meaning for one hell of a debriefing.   
“May I make a request?” asked Azrael to the Spartan guards who where in the process of taking Mason to the cells below, “Could you please have his weapon and armour put on the Ark, I have an idea for it” the guards looked at Franklin with confusion, only to have the Elder-Paladin nod as a sign of acceptation to the request.   
While Azrael and Kaldür were busy on the Ark dealing with Mason’s armour, the others converged on the command deck to commence with the debrief.

It took the officers and Encho several hours to manage a complete debriefing, filled with shocking revelations and dire moments. While Encho and the others planned for their next movement, Aryanna found herself walking up to Franklin who was staring out at the Ark from the window.  
“Do you think he’ll be the same after your friend is finished in there?” asked the Paladin-Elder without taking his eyes off the ship. Aryanna knew that Azrael was handy with actual experience in prosthetics while Kaldür’s medical practises were rivalled only by her own and yet she still felt sympathy for the old veteran. Before Aryanna could say anything to comfort the Paladin-Elder, the comms system came to life with Azrael’s voice on the other end, “Could Paladin-Elder Franklin and remaining Inquisition members please make their way to the Ark; someone want to have a word with you all”  
The mentioned group was joined by various Spartans and Sangeili who all waited outside the Ark for news. First to leave the ship was Kaldür followed by Azrael who stepped to the side to allow a third person to appear. The person was clad in Mason’s armour albeit with some minor changes such as the arms now donning white Warden gauntlets while the tattered olive scarf draped over both shoulders seemed to come down his left side. Instead of a helmet however, the armour now had a blue head atop it, like Promethea’s except for one difference; it was the face of Johnson.  
“I’d like you to join me in welcoming Johnson Keyes back to the Alliance and to the Inquisition” announced Azrael, earning cheers and praises from everyone present while Franklin dropped to his knees with tears streaming down his face. Concerned for his father, Johnson rushed forward to his side with worry etched into his holographic face. Upon seeing the look on Johnson’s face, Franklin knew deep down that he hadn’t lost his son as he embraced Johnson in a much-needed hug.

While teams of Sangeili and Spartan took ships up to the Dreadnaught for dismantling and reverse-engineering, Azrael and the others convened with Franklin in the command deck in private.   
“While our war against the Sangeili Empire remains our main concern, thanks to your efforts we have obtained knowledge from the Promethean Hive and know that our scientists are working hard to restore the converted Spartans and Sangeili back to their original mind state. I’d also like to take this moment to relieve my son from active duty back into the enlisting of the Inquisition” informed Franklin to the those present which came as a shock to Johnson and the others, “My only request is, as both Paladin-Elder and father, that you take up your fallen brother’s rank and the codename of Spartan to repair any ill will he may have caused” Johnson, now given the codename Spartan, was in utter disbelief to what was happening. Before any of the Promethean stuff came to light, Johnson had rarely seen his father so proud save for his acceptance into the Academy so many years ago.  
“I thank you for the honour Paladin-Elder and vow upon my life that I shall uphold this request” said Johnson before Franklin nodded and ushered them to leave the command deck.  
“Spartan Johnson, Paladin of the Spartax Army and Defender of the Inquisition” said Aryanna as they headed for the Ark, “You think it’s weird to say? Trust me when I say hearing it is weirder” replied Johnson as they came out to the platform. The minute it was in sight, Johnson rushed over to the Ark where he and Azrael began another bickering contest in regard to the upkeep of Azrael’s ship. 

Due to the war effort and the need to document the Dreadnaught equipment, the Inquisition members didn’t remain on Spartax Prime for much longer, save for a few farewells from Encho and Va’dam promising to tell tales of their adventures for generations. So, with yet another successful mission, Azrael and the others plotted a course for Damocles Station.  
“It appears that your bodies physiology has bonded well with this Promethean prosthetic as I can see little backlash” said Kaldür as he examined Azrael’s latest in prosthetic arms. In the meantime, Aryanna and Johnson were dealing with a mystery all on their own; the Inferno Relic.  
“It’s kinda hard to explain, other than I no longer feel Emperious’ connection anymore. I know when Azrael almost lost Imperious he said it felt like losing a piece of him, but I honestly don’t feel any different” explained Johnson as he held the tonfas in hand, “It may have something to do with me now being an A.I. interface, I’ll contact Grandfather to see what he can find in the Gallifreyan Archives” suggested Azrael as he left to contact Rassilon on Gallifrey, in the meantime Johnson returned the tonfa to Aryanna for safekeeping. 

Planet: Unknown

While the Ark made its way back to Damocles Station, somewhere on a barren red planet a black figure stalked the surface whilst looking over their shoulder every now and again. While traversing the terrain in the midst of a sandstorm, Dusk suddenly found himself staring up at a tall, dark tower which seemed to be a better option than being outside so decided to take refuge; however he failed to notice the strange figure looking on from the storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that can finally bring this arc to a close, thanks again to all those (Skymitch) who have followed from day one and hope you stick around for more to come :3


	12. Hunt of the Inferno Bearer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Johnson now unable to access the powers of the Inferno Relic, the Inquisition must find a suitable replacement if they are to have any chance of beating Peylix and his Cabal. However something is amiss as Azrael suddenly finds himself being called out by the double-agent Dusk to meet in private, what important details could be in store for the Inquisition?

Location: Damocles Station 

As the Ark came into land and the group descended the rampart, they were greeted by Rassilon, Paarthurnax, Erza and Thane. Rassilon seemed to be doing quite well given his advanced age, his black hair was now showing signs of silvering while his president attire remained the same.  
“I came the minute I received that message Azrael my boy” said Rassilon as he turned to Johnson with a solemn look, “We give you own sincerest condolences my boy. Not only have you lost connection to the Inferno Tower, but the tragedy that has befallen your family” Rassilon and Erza bowed before Johnson in respect. After the formalities were out of the way, the group made their way to the command deck where Paarthurnax and Jocasta were waiting. While Rassilon, Jocasta and Paarthurnax were discussing their plan for the Inferno Relic, Azrael and the others were bringing Johnson up to speed on what had happened since he left for Spartax Prime.  
“I leave you guys for two years and suddenly Azrael is a dad with two kids and Benn is already walking while also wreaking Rin’s attempt at facial hair. Clearly this place went down the pan the minute I left” sighed Johnson as Rin rolled his eyes at the remark and Azrael spluttered something bout not being a parent, “Yes Azrael, where is young Evan and Tatso? I would like to see my great-grandchildren before I depart” said Rassilon which earned more spluttering from a now red-faced Azrael which got laughter from all present.  
“Getting back to the business at hand” coughed Paarthurnax which got the mood back to a serious standing, “we have reason to believe that we may find a suitable relic bearer within the Solar Temple on Dràcos” the mention of the planet put Azrael on edge for some reason, “Dare I ask but why would you believe a relic bearer to be there of all places?” questioned Azrael while still on edge. The others were about to press for an explanation when a beeping from the console gained Jocasta’s attention.  
“It would appear that Azrael is required elsewhere” said Jocasta after reading the message, “Dusk has requested to meet with you on Valor Station in private” Sighing in what appeared to be relief, Azrael turned to the others and shrugged his shoulders.  
“Looks like I’ll be skipping out on this one, good luck on Dràcos and might I suggest taking Aztek with you” said Azrael before taking his leave of the command deck to leave for Valor Station.

Taking Azrael’s piece of advice onboard, Aztek was brought in on the trip to Dràcos which earned a similar reaction to Azrael’s when they mention the planet’s name.  
“Through my connection with Yggdrasill, I have reason to believe that a relic bearer can be found on this planet” explained Rassilon as a holograph of Dràcos was seen behind him, “Bear in mind the Dràcos is a neutral planet in this war so you will not be aided by the Alliance like you normally are. We ask that you all take precautions there while carrying out this mission” noted Paarthurnax to the assembled group of Defenders. Once the debriefing was complete, the group consisting of Aryanna, Aztek, Johnson, Erza, Kaldür and Tarlak left to prepare for the mission.  
“So, what’s the deal with Dràcos? You and Azrael had the same reaction when it was mentioned” asked Erza to Aztek as they walked into the hanger, Aztek was silent for a moment before sighing and turned to face the amassed group.  
“Dràcos is a planet filled with baron deserts where the populace have built a network of tunnels below the surface. The sister planet of Dràcos is Dangór V and is known for its infamous Wyvern Pits, which myself and Azrael have a history in as fighters. The Solar Temple is one of the four houses that govern and supply the pits with fresh fighters” explained Aztek to the group, “When you say ‘fresh fighters’ you don’t mean…” questioned Aryanna, but the solemn look confirmed her suspicions; they use slaves in the fights.

Location: Valor Station

Valor Station was an old outpost sat at the edge of Alliance space, tasked primarily with tracking Darkspace movement and reporting back to the Alliance. The Station had been decommissioned for some time now, a relic of a time long forgotten in the war against the Darkspace. Proceeding through the dark corridors with caution Azrael eventually came to the old command deck of the Station, old pieces of paper floated from the reduced gravity and computer screens completely grey with dust and at the far end of the command deck near the windows; was a red shard that caught Azrael’s eye. Upon investigating it further, Azrael soon realised that it was strikingly similar to the small sliver that Anzu had left back on Spartax Prime, adding to the already uneasy feeling in his gut.  
“I see you got my message in the end” said a voice suddenly from behind Azrael who spun round to come face to face with Dusk, “I wasn’t sure if you would receive it nor you would come alone. The trust you have truly honours me” said Dusk with a slight bow of his head. “Well you haven’t yet given me a reason to not trust you of late” replied Azrael as he turned his attention back towards the shard, “Do you have any information on these shards?” The lack of response from Dusk really set Azrael on edge as he turned to ask again; only to find himself completely alone.  
“Anzu just couldn’t help himself could he in leaving a piece behind on his mission, could he?” spoke a voice similar to Dusks, albeit slightly deeper and sounding like it was coming from all around. Placing one hand on Muramasa’s hilt, Azrael quickly reach out for the shard with his other as a large hand suddenly shot out of the darkness towards him.   
“Impressive reflexes” commented the voice as the hand returned to the darkness, “However let’s see how you deal with this” suddenly white crystal-like shards began raining down upon Azrael who had little time to register the sudden change in direction. Azrael was able to deflect most of the crystal projectiles, but some lucky few manged to strike their target and forced Azrael to disengage from his location and flee farther into the abandoned base.

“This is Defender Draak of the Inquisition requesting backup from any Defenders in this sector” said Azrael into the comms piece in his ear only to receive the faint sound of static, “Did you really think that I would be as foolish to not ensure that we were in a communication black zone” spoke the voice in the shadows with a hint of goading in its voice, no doubt please with their catch.   
Suddenly, Azrael tilted his head to the left as a crystal shot through where his head was just moments ago and backflipped to face the way he just ran with staff ready. Three more crystals came shooting from the other end of the corridor, but Azrael deflected them with ease using his staff.  
“If throwing rocks and hiding is your attempt at killing me, we’re going to be at this all day” said Azrael as he watched the surrounding shadows for any attacks. Suddenly another large hand shot out towards Azrael who dodged out of the way; only to dodge into what appeared to be black sludge which constricted his movements, “Who said this was about killing my dear relic bearer” spoke the voice again as ‘Dusk’ appeared at the far end of the corridor where the hand had returned as the sludge completely submerged Azrael in its black goo.

Planet: Dràcos   
Location: Astera Port

Aztek hadn’t been lying when he said that Dràcos was in fact a barren desert planet. There was sand as far as the eye could see with the odd stone ridges jutting from the ground into canyons. Aztek eased the ship into one of the large holes that seemed to be all over the place, which opened into a large underground lake with buildings built into the sides of the cave and illuminated by tall crystal pillars and large flame lamps.   
As Aztek landed the ship at the edge of the lake, the Inquisition members suddenly found themselves surrounded by soldiers in various types of armour, all with their weapons poised at the group.   
“After all these years, you choose now to return to us Blood Prince” spoke a woman dressed in white armour with black patches and a gold armoured right arm. Her face was completely black, save for the white on her lower face, with horns morphing out the side of her head, with light blue hair flowing down her back, “Proxima, always a pleasure” commented Aztek as he crossed his arms over his chest at the woman called Proxima who both remained in a staring contest until they both burst out in laughter.  
“Oh, it has been too long my friend, tell me how life as a famed Defender is treating you?” questioned Proxima after hugging Aztek and looking behind him at the confused group, “Hold on, where is Salamander?”   
“Azrael is on business of his own at the moment I’m afraid” replied Aztek, confirming the other’s suspicious that Salamander was Azrael here on Dràcos, “And I gather that you are not here to simply catch up as they say” sighed Proxima before turning to the group of soldiers and speaking in a tongue that was unfamiliar to those present.  
“If you would like to follow me, Corvus would probably like to have words with you outsiders” said Proxima before leading the group farther into Astera Port to meet this Corvus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that begins the next arc of story! So excited bout this one as it lets me grind out more ideas involving people's past, Wyvern Pits from the beginning and the mysterious Dusk. Wonder if anyone has figured out who he is yet??? Only time will tell, so all can ask is that you stay tuned for more :3


	13. Trouble in Astera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having arrived at Astera Port, the Inquisition approach Corvus as mean of help with finding the Inferno Relic Bearer, all the while Azrael finds himself the last place he'd ever expect himself to be. Tough obstacles lie ahead for both parties as they continue on with their missions.

Planet: Dràcos  
Location: Astera Port

Proxima was silent as she guided the group through the port, no doubt towards the large upturned ship at the top of the cliff face. Whilst heading through the port, Aryanna and the others couldn’t help but marvel at the busyness of this place; people of all shape and size were bustling about, carrying crates of supplies from one area to the next.  
“Everyone here has a single job that they must carry out, whether its hunting the large beasts of the desert above, providing food and drink for the hunter caste or fighting in the arena” explained Proxima without diverting her gaze from the path in front of her, “The ones you call Aztek and Azrael were once part of the same caste that both myself and Corvus originated from, the slave caste. We were tasked with providing the entertainment for those more privileged than others in the Wyvern Pits, however those ways have since been disbanded ever since Corvus took control of the colony”  
Aztek seemed to be impressed by what Proxima was sharing with them, “It seems that you have both came a long way since that revolt we started many a moon ago” commented Aztek which earned a hearty laugh from Proxima before returning to guide the group in silence.

Location: The Obsidian 

Upon reaching the large upturned ship, which Aztek had revealed to be named The Obsidian, Proxima and the others found themselves almost walking into two armoured individuals. One was dressed completely in a mixture of light blue, grey and white armour and frillings with black stars on them, their helmet completely covering their face with blue antenna attached to the top back of it and a white sword with similar frillings up the hilt attached to their hip. The other was dressed in red, light Japanese-style armour with black clothing underneath the armour padding, a red wolf mask with a dirt-white main coming out the back on their face with a large clubbed glaive on their back.  
“Ah Legia and Oni, off on another hunt I take it?” asked Proxima to the two, now dubbed Legia and Oni, that had just left The Obsidian. They both nodded in agreement before stepping aside to let Proxima and the others pass into The Obsidian.  
The interior of The Obsidian was just as impressive as the exterior. Large chandeliers hung from the top of the ship to illuminate the large hall with large bookcases lining every inch of the left side, a small staircase at the back with small beams of light and the scent that could be associated with a tavern at the back and a large table with a map of Dràcos sat in the centre. Proxima lead the group towards the large set of stairs at the right side of the hall that lead to a closed set of large double doors, to which arguing could be heard from within.  
“They never learn do they” sighed Proxima as she motioned the others to wait as she creaked the door open to see the commotion. The room behind the large doors had an impressed pained glass window overlooking the Port with two large pillars at either end with lamps filled with fire to brighten it up. Two long bookshelves lined either wall next to the doors with two comforters placed in front of them and a red carpet leading from the door towards a large desk that sat between the pillars, where Corvus sat with two figures arguing something.  
Corvus was a grey skinned man dressed in a black attire with gold patches of armour threaded throughout. A grey cloak was wrapped round his shoulders with the hood draped over his head and held in place by two golden pieces and Aztek noticed his signature dual bladed Glaive perched behind him but within reaching distance. Proxima motioned for them to be silent as the two figures continued their one-sided rant at Corvus. The two were in matching military attire of dark grey clothes with black padding, black knee-high boots, elbow gloves and berets with white crosses.  
“We won’t be warning you a second time Slave, return Astera Port to the Master or there will be consequences” spoke one of the figures, their voice muffled slightly by the ski mask covering their mouth but could be heard as a male, “Ghetsis will have this port one way or another, best you take this offer while you still can” spoke the other, this time with a female voice but also muffled slightly by the mask.  
Aztek and the others were about to intervene when Proxima extended her hand before them, halting their advance as an armoured figure suddenly appeared next to Corvus. The armour on the figure was mostly grey with red and black dragon scaled patches intertwined with the regular armour and a large long sword strapped to their back.  
“While these little visits from your organisation always bring my joy, I must ask that you now leave my port before you over stay your welcome” spoke Corvus in a deathly clam manner, sending chills up everyone’s spine as he rose from the desk while reaching for his Glaive. Taking the hint, the grunts quickly turned tail and fled the office, but not before sparing a glance at the Inquisition members as they ran.  
“I must apologise for having to witness that spectacle, not one I tend to show old friends and their companions” sighed Corvus as he smiled at the sight of Aztek before bringing him in for a frim hug, one only shown between close friends.  
“The only one who should apologies is myself for not seeing your revolt to the end my friend as well as not coming sooner to your aid” replied Aztek which Corvus replied with a shake of his head, “Always the humanitarian” he laughed as he motioned for the others to join him at his desk, “So what can Astera Port do for the Inquisition?”

Planet: Unknown  
Location: Unknown

Azrael groaned as he slowly regained consciousness, his mind a haze of going somewhere and then an attack. It all suddenly came back to him as he shot up, only to headbutt something hard and groan.  
“Good to see that you’ve regained consciousness” commented the voice of whoever Azrael butted head with which sounded familiar to Azrael but couldn’t place it until his vision returned to full. There standing in front of him; was Dusk. Azrael was immediately on high alert as he leaped away from Dusk, ready for another fight, “You’ve got some nerve showing your face again after that stunt you pulled” said Azrael as he reached for Muramasa.  
“Before you go jumping to any conclusions Draak, the one that attacked you wasn’t me” sighed Dusk as he removed his hand from his head. Upon further inspection, Azrael found Dusk to be sporting some minor injuries as well as parts of his armour missing, “If you weren’t the one who attacked me then who?” asked Azrael, prompting another sigh from Dusk as he turned his gaze to somewhere far off.  
“I believe that would’ve been myself young relic bearer” spoke a deep voice from behind Dusk which made the two turn in the direction of the voice’s source. In the distance stood a man no older than Azrael with black, shaggy hair and wearing a white kitsune mask with red marking covering his face. Black, fingerless opera-length gloves with several red studded leather strapes attached on both arms with similar straps on his knee-high sandals, baggy black trousers and a dark blue open robe with a fur collar with no shirt underneath.  
Before Azrael or Dusk could ask the person a single question, they suddenly leapt forward at great speed, closing the gap between them and striking a fist into Dusk’s gut. Azrael took this time to quickly draw out Muramasa, dawning his Ivory Cloak, and attempted his downward slash the opponent; only to bounce of something made of crystal. The masked man had turned their right arm into the same crystal-like projectile that was fired at Azrael back on Valor Station.  
“If this is your best attempt, then you have no hope of escaping this place” spoke the masked man before backhanding Azrael and sending him soaring into a wall with a resounding thud. Turning his attention back to Dusk on the floor, the masked man suddenly found himself staring at nothing as he quickly scanned for Dusk; only to spot him aiding Azrael down a tunnel.

When Dusk was sure that the masked man wasn’t following them, he slowed to a halt and gently laid Azrael down for a minute to catch his breath.  
“Who the hell was that guy?” asked Azrael as he regained some of his wind, all Dusk could do was shrug his shoulders as he was still catching his own breath before sliding down the wall to sit next to Azrael, “Beats me, must be new to the chain of command if I don’t know them” said Dusk after regaining his breath. The two remained sat against the wall in silence for a couple of minutes, “It seems that Peylix knew about the leak from day one” sighed Dusk suddenly as he pressed his palm against his left side before removing his hand; revealing the familiar dark crimson of blood.  
“Barely managed to get out of there with Anzu trying to take my head, fortunately manage to slip away into the storm before he could do more than this” he motioned toward the wound on his side, “Found myself here all of a sudden alone until you turned up unconscious” explained Dusk as he reapplied pressure to his wound.  
“Just where is here anyway?” asked Azrael before motioning from him to have a look at Dusk’s wound, “Lucky for you, we just happen to be on Kronos” explained Dusk as Azrael done his best to patch him up.

Planet: Dràcos  
Location: The Obsidian 

Aztek and the other done their best at explaining their situation to Corvus and Proxima, who both followed on with nods and remained silent until the end.  
“So you’ve come to Dràcos in search of this ‘Relic Bearer’ and you believe them to be within the Solar Temple” surmised Proxima with Aztek nodding in agreement before Corvus and Proxima shared a knowing glance between them, “We’ll help you in finding this Relic Bearer, on the condition that you help us in freeing the slaves of Solar Temple and help us with the Ghetsis problem” proposed Corvus to the Inquisition members present, who seemed to be in mental debate before Erza quickly spoke for the group with a nod of agreement.  
“Excellent, now if we could direction back into the briefing room from which you entered, we can draw up a plan of attack” smiled Corvus as he, Proxima and the armoured figure joined them in leaving the office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally going to be longer but in the end felt that splitting it would help in terms of reading. Looks like Azrael has really stepped into it this time, and can the other help Corvus with his Ghetsis probelm? Gonna have to wait and see peeps, till next time :3


	14. Trial of Redemption

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stranded on the Kronian homeworld with a wounded Dusk and a masked man hellbent on ending their lives, Azrael has definitely had better days than this one. As he and Dusk travel deeper into the tunnels, what will the two find?

Planet: Kronos  
Location: Unknown

Of all the places that Azrael thought he had ended up; home world of Anzu and deep within Darkspace territory was not one of them. He had patched Dusk up the best he could but there was still some discomfort when he walked, all the running must’ve jarred it open, so Azrael aided Dusk in limping down the tunnel until they came to a large open cave with four waterfalls, two on either end, and a stone coffin position at the far end with a broken slab behind it.  
“Be on your guard, that masked man could be anywhere” said Dusk, looking worse than what he did when Azrael had regained consciousness; not doubt the wound was either infected or poisoned, “Help me towards that coffin” said Dusk which Azrael wasn’t sure about given Dusk’s condition, “I think you should rest, that wound is only getting worse and you’re in no condition to fight anything” reasoned Azrael but Dusk wasn’t having it and tried to walk towards the coffin, only to stumble slightly as veins of dark purple appeared up his neck.  
“Look, you’ve been infected with something that’s slowly killing you, you need to rest so that I can help you” stressed Azrael but it seemed as though Dusk was in a trance and was determined to reach the coffin, so Azrael relented and helped him towards it. The two made to the stone steps of the coffin when Azrael was suddenly grappled by something behind him, yanking him away from Dusk who fell onto the stairs with a pained thud.  
“This is the end of the line for you both” spoke the masked man as he reeled in his large black hand that was grappled to Azrael’s leg, who in a desperate attempt to free himself, picked up a stray rock and hurled it towards the masked man; smacking him square in the face with a satisfying crunch as cracks appeared in it.  
The minute the hand was off his leg, Azrael rose to his feet and stood between Dusk and the masked man, “I’ll hold this guy off while you get to that coffin, not sure how long I’ll last so make it snappy” called Azrael to Dusk, who nodded and began climbing towards the coffin. Turning to face the masked man, Azrael watched as the Kitsune mask crumbled away from their face, revealing a face that has haunted Azrael for the las three years; the face of Benn Morningstar.  
“I’m going to enjoy taking your life for that brat” said ‘Benn’ as he formed a large black one-sided axe in his left hand that we swung with ease. Azrael breathed slowly as he unsheathed both Muramasa and Pendragon from their sheaths, unlike the times when they were drawn individually, Azrael’s attire remained the same as he placed Pendragon over his shoulders, Muramasa pointing towards ‘Benn’ before lunging forward and clashing with the large axe.

While Azrael was facing off against the ghosts of his past, Dusk managed to make it to the coffin. For reasons that he couldn’t quite place it, he felt drawn to whatever was held within the coffin; that it could answer his questions. While it seemed as though the coffin was completely made of stone, there was one part of it that appeared to be made of something else; a purple mask that sat of the face of the person etched into the top. As Dusk leaned closer to the mask, he could distinctly hear voice whispering in his ear that felt familiar and yet strange at the same time. Deciding that there wasn’t much left to lose, Dusk lifted the mask off its place with relative ease before turning it and placing it upon his face.

Aiming to give Dusk as much time as possible, Azrael began attacking ‘Benn’ with a barrage of sword flurries from every angel to keep him off balance. When the masked man was revealed to have the face of his deceased love, Azrael initially thought that he’d have trouble in facing off against him, but something about Dusk made him want to protect him at any cost.  
“Looks like your friend’s found the Ivory Mask, heh almost feel sorry for him” taunted ‘Benn’ as he crashed the axe down on Azrael, just missing him as he jumped back.  
“What’s this Ivory Mask you’re talking about? And what is this place?” asked Azrael which earned a haunting laugh from ‘Benn’, “I honestly cannot believe you haven’t figured it out yet. That mask is lost piece of Susion; making this the Ivory Tower and your friend the latest victim for the Ivory King”

When Dusk placed the mask on, he suddenly found himself surrounded entirely by a black void with multiple chains sprouting off in every direction imaginable.  
“Welcome trail bearer, you have been selected to bear the Ivory Mask of Illusion which houses the Ivory King Benomi. You are the first to dawn my mask in over millennia, do you think yourself worthy of my trial?” spoke a deep voice that resounded from all around Dusk. Steeling himself as he knew that Draak was counting on him, Dusk clenched his fist and found his voice, “I am here to take the Ivory Trail and to regain that which was lost to me” The chains surrounding Dusk suddenly began to move at progressively faster rates, causing an updraft of wind to blow in Dusk’s direction. 

Suddenly the void around Dusk began to warp into a bright evening sky highlighted by the orange of a setting sun, however as the surroundings began to clear, Dusk realised that it wasn’t orange from the setting sun; it was from the burning village in the distance. Dusk turned to find himself looking at a very familiar looking Temple that appeared to be crumbling from the onslaught.  
“What is this place?” called Dusk, only to receive nothing in response as he watched the scene unfold before him. The village was under siege by humanoid cyborgs with golden armour and laser rifle that blasted everything within sight of the cyborg’s blue eye. As the cyborgs laid waste to the village a large figure donning purple armour and wielding a double-sided glaive was ascending the steps towards the Temple that sat above the now burning village. Dusk watched as people dressed in grey robes failed to stop the advancing figure or the cyborgs. Eventually the figure made it to the top, where he came face to face with another man dressed in grey robes. There was something different about him, Dusk felt, as he was also sporting golden armoured gauntlets and knee guards with dark hair blowing in the wind and a navy waist cape.  
“This is as far as you are going trespasser” spoke the person as he raised his palm up in the direction of the armoured figure. Both of them were still until a noise could be heard in the distance; and in a flash they clashed in the middle.  
With each strike that was both delivered and blocked by the man in grey, Dusk’s head began to throb with flashes of images and voices. Dusk dropped to his knees in pain as more and more images flooded his mind before glancing up at the fighting figures. The armoured intruder had gained the upper hand and now had the one in grey pinned under his boot.  
“You know why we are here, save yourself further torment by telling us what we need to know” spoke the armoured figure before applying pressure to the one under his foot, earning a groan in pain from ribs cracking; which Dusk also found himself experiencing in his chest.  
“Stop it you big bully!” shouted a voice from behind the armoured figure who turned behind him to spot a small child in similar grey robes with blue hair and two small dragon horns coming out his head as he held a sword in shaking hands and tears in his eyes, “You leave my big brother alone and leave”  
Realisation suddenly dawned upon Dusk’s face as his memories all suddenly clicked into place; he remembered everything as the figure amused the child by play fight before slashing his entire arm clean off as a means of ‘disarming’ him. Turning around, the figure suddenly found the floored person impaling themselves on their glaive and blasting them point blank with a yellow energy blast.

Despite giving it his best effort, Azrael just couldn’t defeat this person as he was sent flying with a roundhouse kick to the gut towards the coffin.  
“Just give up already, your friend has been taken by the Ivory King and soon you shall die here alongside him. Perhaps I may get a seat at the Cabal table for returning with the Draak Relics” said ‘Benn’ with a confident smirk on his face as he slowly stalked the stairs up to Azrael. Looming over Azrael like a predator relishing before the kill, ‘Benn’ raised his axe high and began its final descend into Azrael, who shut his eyes in acceptance; only for the blow to never arrive.  
Cracking open his eyes slightly, Azrael found himself staring at the back of someone with ‘Benn’ on his back farther down the cave. The person before Azrael wore a closed navy robe with grey innards and a fur collar with black fingerless gloves and a red sash tied to their waist with black baggy trousers tucking into black boots with furred innards and pointed ends. Two crow Kamas crossed on his back and a dark purple mask covering most of his face with the remains covered by a black cloth.  
“That’s impossible, no ones ever beaten the Trail. That power belongs to me, Absolum!” shouted ‘Benn’ angrily as he started to morph into a large, black monster with his right arm producing crystals. The Absolum then shot out a dark yellow beam from its mouth, only to have the masked man block it with nothing but his hand.  
Taking out his Kamas, the man ran forward before ducking under the Absolum’s axe swing as purple magic circles suddenly appeared, “torquem carcerem” said the masked man, and suddenly multiple chains shot out of the circles and surrounded both him and the Absolum. The Absolum attempted another swing at the masked man, only for his axe to be tangled within the chains above him, effectively leaving him defenceless as the masked man attacked with a flurry of slashes and running up the chains as a mean of escaping any retaliation.  
“Stand still and fight damn it” boomed the Absolum as it shot another beam of dark yellow at the masked man; only for the masked man to burst into a flurry of black feathers. Desperately trying to find where the masked man had disappeared to, the Absolum failed to notice four black feathers embedded into the group around it as the masked man suddenly appeared before him with a half ram hand sign.  
“Tumor nephilim circulus Eburneum” said the masked man and suddenly the four feathers began to glow a bright grey before enveloping Absolum in its blinding pillar of light.

Azrael simply couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed, this masked man has just appeared out of nowhere and has singlehandedly dealt with the same opponent that almost killed him. So, wrapped up in what’d just occurred, Azrael almost missing the extended hand that the masked man was extending him. “Sorry but how did you do all that?” asked Azrael in awe of the masked man who looked back at the black mark on the ground that was once Absolum, and returned his gaze to Azrael, “You told me to make it snappy” said the masked man which had Azrael’s jaw hit the floor, “That you Dusk? What happened to you?”  
“I remembered my past” was all Dusk said before he reached up to remove the Ivory Mask. Upon removing it, the black cloth covering his mouth disappeared instantly allowing Azrael to see Dusk’s face for the first time and he almost faints in shock.  
There standing before him was the unmistakable black, shaggy hair of someone Azrael thought long dead; there standing before him was Magnus Sigma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wonder if anyone actually saw this revelation coming? Have to admit that this wasn't my original plan for the Dusk character but I imagine that this worked better than some generic 'bad guy'. I'm going to attempt to keeping this as up to date as I possibly can round work and other things but no promises. Till next time :3


	15. The Nergal Conspiracy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Dràcos group continue their investigation, they encounter some old faces from Aztek's past along with a dark secret looming over the new structure of power. Can the group get to the bottom of this, or be its latest victims?

Planet: Dràcos  
Location: Teostra City

The journey from Astera Port to Teostra City was quite brief given the group were travelling by a large wooden boat than sailed the desert like a boat on water, “There it is. Teostra City; home of the Solar Temple” called Proxima as before them rose two particularly tall mountains within close proximity of each other. On their journey towards the City, Proxima explained to the others the situation that Dràcos had fallen into with Oni and Legia accompanying them.  
“There are five major settlements here on Dràcos; Astera Port, Teostra City, Kirin Highlands, Daora Forest and the Nexus of Elders. Each governed by a respected elder until recently” explained Corvus as he guided the boat towards the edge of a rockface with a large slope carved into it, “Suddenly without warning, all the elders vanished without a trace, which is suspicious given they were around the same time that Ghetsis and this armoured advisory appeared and began claiming the other settlements until only Astera Port remained free of their return of the caste system” added Proxima as the boat glided up the rock slope with relative ease until it bust out to reveal a large, stoned city completely carved into the two sides of the mountains, joined by various stone walkways and at the bottom, a circular building could be seen.  
“That building down there is one of the infamous Wyvern Pits. Tora, the elder of Teostra City, has it kept as a reminder of how far the people had come since those darker times” explained Corvus as the boat came to a halt outside a very large stone building with a chimera face chiselled above the door.

Location: The Solar Temple 

The inside of the building was a similar shade of rock to the exterior, the walkway was illumined by the flaming lanterns poised on the pillars that ran the length of the hall. Red ribbon-like drapes hung limply from the ceilings with the sound of rushing water coming from deep below in the chasm underneath the walkways.  
“Our contacts in the Temple should be meeting us just ahead” informed Proxima as she leads the group towards a large pillar with multiple candles flickering within it. As the group closed in on the pillar, two figures suddenly emerged from the shadows both draped in light grey robes that covered their faces.  
“You must be the one named Proxima, your brother sent word ahead prior to your arrival” said the larger one as they two ushered the group into a more private room.  
Once they found a room, the figures shed their cloaks before turning to face the amassed group. The larger one appeared to be wearing bronze scaled armour with brown furred parts, a two-piece waist cape connected to a large furred buckle and a helmet shaped like a blue and silver metallic lion with brown fur protruding from the back with the bottom part of the face exposed and piercing yellow eyes.  
“Good to see you still in one-piece Bazél my friend” said Oni as the hunters took turns fist pumping in a manner associated with gangs. While the hunters were catching up with their friend, Aztek seemed to look as if he has saw a ghost when the smaller of the two figures emerged.  
The smaller one had red, spiky hair with matching coloured scales on the sides of his face and appeared to be just a bit older than Evan while appearing to be the same in height. He wore a silver chest piece with golden shoulder armour over a worn white jacket with missing sleeves which revealed red scales running down their forearms and a red scarf loosely wrapped round their neck. Two belts sat diagonally over their waist with red canisters strapped to one while a blaster holster and small knife pouch were strapped to the right side of the other and a dirt-brown waist cape tucked into them and dark trousers with the left knee covered by a worn silver guard with bare, red scaled feet.  
“Blödborne?” spoke the younger one with small sounds of hope within his voice before rushing forward and enveloping Aztek in a hug, “Kiri? What in the five circles are you doing here?” asked Aztek looking down at the heap of red hair that tickled his chest before patting the boy’s head.  
“Kiri has been our inside source here at Teostra City ever since the Elders disappeared along with Bazél here who has been supervising our young hunter” explained Proxima once the boy named Kiri departed from Aztek’s chest, “Kiri was a young Draconian slave who tended to the warriors back with myself and Azrael found ourselves competing within the Wyvern Pits” explained Aztek to the others who wore confusing looks on their face.

After the brief introductions were out of the way, Kiri and Bazél guided the group out of the temple with their faces obscured by hoods as they weaved through the busy marketplace, “Ever since the Nergal took the place of Lord Zorah, his advisor has hired an outsider by the name of Ghetsis to enforce the ‘new laws’ of Dràcos” explained Bazél while nodding towards the two in identical dark grey uniform; the same as the ones that were in Corvus’ office at Astera Port.  
“Lord Zorah was the leader of our resistance during the uprising, he rallied the other faction Elders to form the Dràcos the you now stand upon on this day and sits as the Elder of Elders” explained Proxima, “But what happened to him? Corvus was summoned to join him and the Elders at the Nexus but chose to remain due to a crisis with deliveries” asked Proxima one the group were out of earshot of the grunts.  
“We’re unsure of what’s happened, only that the only to emerge from the Nexus were the Nergal brothers, his advisor and Elder Vaal of the Vale. While one of the brothers sits on the Lord Zorah’s throne, the other acts as his champion; undefeated within the new Wyvern Pits. That was until Blödborne came back to us” said Kiri with an evident smile at the last comment which had Aztek reddening in his face and the others snickering at the fanboying that he was receiving from the young one.

The stars were already visible in the evening sky by the time Kiri and Bazél made it to their destination, it was a small stone shack that appeared to have seen better days.  
The group was quickly ushered into the shack which was surprisingly large, littered with pieces of paper along with an unmade bed to the left and small circular table at the rear in front of an old large map of Dràcos. There sitting at the table facing out towards the group was a bearded man with shaggy dark brown hair dressed in a dark blue, sleeveless hooded top, a black harness strapped to his chest and light brown short sleeves from the undershirt.  
“I’ve been waiting for your arrival outsiders, you may call me Nomad and I welcome you to the resistance” spoke the one called Nomad before raising from this place behind the table. Nomad spent the next few minutes explaining to everyone the current situation with the Nergal ruler and the new Wyvern Pits. After Nomad was finished with his explanation, Erza stepped forward with a clothed item in hand, “We are on a mission of our own to find a suitable warrior to wield the Inferno Relics” explained Erza as she stepped forward with the tonfas in hand.  
“Put those away immediately” hissed Nomad which Erza complied with immediately which had Nomad breathing out a sigh of relief. 

Before anyone could question the hermit on the reasons behind his behaviour, there was a sudden bashing against the front door with bellows coming from the other end.  
“Seems like we had less time that I anticipated” said Nomad as he reached for the map to reveal a hidden passageway leading to another location, “We’ll hold them here while the rest of your take your leave” said Erza as she and Aztek drew their weapons in preparation, “You really think that I’m just going to leave this to you outsiders” growled Proxima as she began to advance on Aztek and Erza, only to be halted by Kiri moving in front of her.  
“You need to go with them Proxima. We can’t risk giving them any leverage against your brother” reasoned Kiri which eared an unsatisfied grunt from Proxima before she retreated into the hole in the wall with the others, leaving Nomad with those who were staying behind, “May the great Xéno guide you on your path” said Nomad before also retreating into the hole and returning the map to its original place. 

It didn’t take long before the door was suddenly burst open, and in spilled several soldier dressed in identical grey uniform armed with various black weapons with a weird hum.  
“Looks like we’ve found ourselves some troublemakers boys” said a voice from behind the line of suits, which departed to reveal a man in the same uniform only with a black trench coat, his black hair slicked completely to the back of his head and a cocky grin that was just begging to be knocked clean off, “You know the drill, surrender or be put down” sighed the man in the coat as the front line of grunts drew their weapons in unison.  
The room was deathly silent as not a single person bothered to move or utter a single word, a pin could be heard dropping almost a mile away. Suddenly the ground from beneath the man in the trench coat caved in and a familiar bladed whip shot out; and out jumped Aryanna.  
“I’ve got this one; you guys deal with the rest of the rabble” said Aryanna before raising her right arm which brought the other whip embedded into the ground to the surface while also sending rubble projectiles towards the man in the coat. Due to Aryanna’s flashy entrance, the grunts were too distracted to notice the others leaping towards them with weapons drawn.

As various clouds of dust billowed above the town line from the numerous fights breaking out from the grunts and the Inquisition members, the fights were observed high above a church top by three masked individuals; two in identical black leathered armour and trench coats with masks shaped like bird faces with red lenses for eyes with top hats to complete the sinister doctor-type look.  
“It would appear that Tao’s squad is having some trouble with the rabble” sighed the third figure from their sitting position atop the spire, this figure was clad in a sinister combination of black cloth and what appeared to be fragments of old bones; their face covered by a black hood and signs of a skull mask underneath.  
“Try to remember that the Nergal want them alive for the Pits” called the third figure as they rose from their sitting position; with no sign of the two others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that it has been ages since last update, but here we finally are!!! Got motivation back and hopefully with enough space between shifts at work can get some decent writing time in >.<


End file.
